Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
SALT LAKE CITY — A Utah mother faced with a life- threatening illness is trying to fulfill a final lifelong dream and has taken to YouTube to make it happen.
Megan Kemp, who at age 30 is in the middle of her second bout with breast cancer, wants to make sure that after she is gone — and she has a general idea of when that may be — her little girl knows she followed her dreams.
"I know there's a cure out there; I just don't think it's in time for me," Kemp said. "I think a lofty goal would be five years. I think two is more realistic."
I know there's a cure out there; I just don't think it's in time for me.
–Megan Kemp
It is a sobering reality for Kemp, who has a 4-year-old daughter named Makena. It was shortly after Kemp finished breast-feeding Makena she found her first lump. And after a double mastectomy, she thought maybe she had beaten the disease. But recently, doctors discovered the cancer had come back; her condition is considered terminal.
"I just don't want to all of a sudden be on my deathbed, spend all that time wishing for that cure," she said. "I just want to live right now."
And it's from the idea of living for right now that Kemp got an idea. She is an aspriing fashion designer, and has some serious skills on a sewing machine. And she has always wanted to design a dress for Lady Gaga — a fashion icon whom she admires.
She created a YouTube video, hoping someone, somewhere, with a connection to the pop star can pull some strings and get the message to Lady Gaga herself.
"Thank you for being yourself and for telling the world it's OK to be yourself and to dream," she said in the video.
And her daughter is behind her, too.
"I really want mom to make a dress a lot," Makena said.
Kemp said there is no time like the present, although she realizes her dream may not happen.
"Don't live tomorrow's pain," she said. "You're not going to get the things you go for, but you're certainly not going to get them if you don't."
For Kemp, it all comes back to Makena, and to what she wants her daughter to remember about her mother when she is gone.
"I want to show my daughter that dreams are real and you can follow them," she said. "Obviously, I just hope she knows that her mom loved her with all her heart."
