Tara with her family: husband, Jon, and children Lucy, 6 and Madison, 8. Says Tara: “What Jon and I are trying to do is really not change the lifestyle for our kids. We want to keep them active, swimming and surfing, keeping those things going. Without the financial support of the community, we probably wouldn’t be able to do that. I feel so grateful, not only to the friendship paddle but just the community at large.”
As a respected defense attorney in Santa Barbara, Tara Haaland-Ford fights hard for her clients in the courtroom.
But for the last 10 months, Ford has been engaged in a fight more intense than any court case ? she?s in a fight for her life.
Last November, she was diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer.
She?s 40, a wife and a mother of two girls, ages 8 and 6.
With all that, Tara is taking on this fight as fiercely as proving the innocence of a defendant.
HOW TO SUPPORT TARA:
For the month of September, Scarlett
Begonia Restaurant, through a promotion
with CentralCoastDining.com, is donating 10
percent of its proceeds from a special
dinner package to the Tara-Haaland Ford
Friendship Paddle. Scarlett Begonia, located
in Victoria Court, is owned by Tara?s
college roommate from UCSB and friend, Christa Fooks.
She was the maid of honor at her wedding.
She?s had one surgery, where doctors removed eight inches of her colon; she?s undergone aggressive chemotherapy and is now preparing herself for a second surgery on Sept. 25.
Coming in to offer emotional support and raise money for the Ford family is the group known as The Friendship Paddle. The local non-profit organization has planned a fund-raising and spirit-lifting ocean paddle for Tara on Oct. 18-19. The paddle will start at Santa Cruz Island and finish at the Santa Barbara Yacht Club beach.
[MORE FRIENDSHIP PADDLE INFO HERE]
Tara is determined to participate in the Friendship Paddle.
?I have surgery on the 25th, and my hope is to paddle,? she said. ?My goal is to start the paddle and finish the paddle in some capacity.?
?She?s so determined, she?s crazy,? said her husband, Jon, a 12-year veteran of the County of Santa Barbara Fire Department.
The Friendship Paddle is a fitting event for the Fords. They?re both active in water sports. Tara is a former collegiate swimmer (Cuesta College) and Jon is a former State Lifeguard. Their children, Madison, 8, and Lucy, 6, love being in the water.
?It?s a great organization,? said Jon. ?It?s incorporating the Santa Barbara lifestyle.?
Jon participated in a friendship paddle two years ago for Mike Moses, a captain with Santa Barbara City Fire Department and a longtime L.A. County lifeguard.
The response for Tara?s friendship paddle has been tremendous.
?I have a friend who quit smoking because he wants to do this friendship paddle,? Jon said. ?I have another friend who has spent no time in the water ? she?s never even been in the water ? and she wants to do the friendship paddle. She?s paddling every day. When her husband comes home and asks her to make dinner, she says, ?No, I?m paddling.?
?All these other people are putting in extra time. They want to be part of something. That?s how bitchen it is.?
Tara is overwhelmed by the response.
?It?s hard to put into words,? she said. ?The overwhelming support myself and my family are receiving is unbelievable, not just from the friendship paddle but from the Santa Barbara community, the legal community, the Washington Elementary community.?
Her two girls attend Washington Elementary on the Mesa.
?I can?t say enough about the guys who started the friendship paddle,? she continued. ?They find someone they can really connect with. I?m gaining a whole other support system on my cancer journey. You?re gaining new friends. You can just pick up the phone and say we need some help, and they?d be over to our house. It?s pretty amazing.?
Besides receiving the prescribed medical treatments for the cancer (surgery, chemotherapy), Tara has explored alternative methods like taking Chinese herbs, doing Reiki, meditation and working with a healer.
?I?m going to take this on,? she said. ?I?m open to any and all suggestions for diet and alternative remedies. I?m not shutting out the western side, but I?m really embracing the eastern side of it because I think that?s a huge part in not only getting rid of the cancer right now but not having it come back down the line.
?I?ve got too much to lose,? she added. ?I have two little girls, 6 and 8. It?s a little work; it?s like a job, but how could you not do it. Life to me is so amazing; there?s so many things to do and people to help and things to see.?
Jon is impressed with Tara?s will and determination.
?She?s such a go-getter,? he said. ?I have to read her blog to find out what?s going on with her sometimes.?
Tara describes her journey and shares her thoughts in a no-holds barred blog called TarasaysF@#!cancer.com or TSFC.
Her support team also is called TSFC.
She admits there have been times she?s felt the anxiety and depression over her situation. ?I say, ?Whoa, it?s a lot of work.? For some, it?s too much work and pain to go through.?
But Tara is not about to give in. She?s doing whatever it takes to win.
?It?s like a case,? says Jon. ?The doctor?s are on deposition, and if there?s any suspected evidence other than the truth, she strikes it down like a defense lawyer would. She?s an amazing woman.?
Tara has been honored for her work by the American Civil Liberties Union and the County Bar Association.
Tara said she went into defense lawyer mode when the doctors told her they would do the surgery two days after being diagnosed.
Her response: ?How about doing surgery tomorrow.?
She?s kept a positive attitude during this long, arduous battle.
?When I woke up from surgery I said there?s no way this is going to beat me,? she said. ?I have had this feeling from the beginning. It?s not going to be an easy road, it?s not going to happen quickly. But, in the end I?m going to be cancer free. That?s how I?ve taken it from there.?
For more information on the Tara?s friendship paddle, go to FriendshipPaddle.org and click on the category current paddle.
