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Life struggles help Stevens Point women reach out to others
By Laura Petzold
For the Journal
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Sharon Mras sits at her work table amid bears, stamps and other items needed for shipments. Mras, a cancer survivor, is using her time to help others. (Journal photo by Doug Wojcik)
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Sharon Mras' life has been influenced by domestic abuse, a personal struggle and triumph over cancer, and the loss of her best friend to the same disease. But, as the saying goes, life is one-tenth what happens to you and the rest what you make it.
"When I lost my very best friend, Bev Kiefer, to cancer at the age of 42, I got really involved in helping cancer patients," said Mras.
After overcoming her own battles, she's emerged as an angel for others both in the community and across the country.
"When you have cancer you lose friends," Mras explained. "People don't know what to say to you. Sometimes it's
enough to know that someone is praying for you and cares for you."
She does her angel work through a number of resources, including the Internet and community groups.
As an Internet do-gooder, she goes by the login name TeddyAngel. Through a complex network of Internet sites, she takes on assignments from Chemo Angels, the Divine Divas and Diva Angels. No matter which group she is working for, her goal is the same - to cheer and bring hope to strangers facing an array of problems.
"They call me the best hugger on the Web," Mras said with an illuminating smile. "You touch these people's lives and you've never met them. It's so heartwarming."
Through Chemo Angels, Mras regularly sends cards, gifts and uplifting messages to people of all ages undergoing cancer treatment. Individuals volunteering for Chemo Angels have two jobs - to send out cheer to a large list of recipients and focus on one special assignment. Mras' current priority recipient is an 11-year-old girl from New York undergoing chemotherapy.
She's also responsible for 16-year-old Stevens Point Area High School student Mark Biesack becoming a Chemo Angel recipient.
"People think it would pull you down, and I guess if you haven't experienced it that's what you would see," Mras said. " But people that get a card or simple recognition look at us as if we're really their angels."
While Mras' house is flooded with outgoing teddy bears, angels, flowers, pins and other tidbits, the incoming thank-you gifts take up even more space. Angels, teddy bears and teddy-angels cover every open space of wall and shelf - each with a meaningful story. Mixed among the angels and bears is a Japanese motif - more gifts sent to Mras from international students who have called her their "American mom."
"The more stuff you send out the more you get back," Mras said, pointing to the many thank-you gifts.
Mras has also become somewhat of an undercover Internet agent, helping to locate missing children. The day-care provider works with John Walsh to locate missing kids by updating a Web site with pictures of abducted children. She also provides child care for siblings of missing kids while parents are involved in an intensive search.
Her angel ventures aren't confined to helping strangers either. In Stevens Point, she works with unwed mothers at First Home and the Alternative High School and is an active servant for Parish Family Life and Elizabeth Ministry at St. Joseph's Church.
The parish groups provide support for people going through emotional times in their lives.
"We work with women that have had births, adoptions, miscarriages, domestic abuse - just a whole list of things," Mras said. "We try to match them up with someone who has had similar experiences so they really do have an idea what that person is going through."
Elizabeth Ministry has a list of women to contact, each with a short description of services available that range from cooking to baby-sitting.
"Real angels don't have wings and their work is never done," Mras said about the women.
All the work Mras does to make others' lives brighter is all the more admirable considering her own busy schedule, running a day-care center and taking night classes.
"I get between 200 and 300 e-mails a day," Mras said. "I check them when the kids are sleeping and at night time."
Petzold is a free-lance writer who resides in Stevens Point.
© Copyright 2000, The Journal. All Rights Reserved.
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