Meriden native Laura Martancik's 2-year-old son, James bounds into her arms for hugs with a big grin and a lot of giggles.
That reunion after her three weeks in the hospital for chemotherapy treatment and a stem cell transplant is captured in a YouTube video and has gone viral. There were already 127,236 views on the video as of 3:14 p.m. on Wednesday since she posted it on Jan. 30.
"This is crazy," she said.
Martancik, 35, who grew up in Meriden and lives in Honolulu, Hawaii, was first diagnosed with Stage 2 B Hodgkins Lymphoma in July of 2013 and was in remission after six months of chemotherapy until the cancer flared up again in July of this past year. She flew back to Connecticut for her treatment to be near family and is being monitored at Smillow cancer center at Yale-New Haven Hospital.
When she posted the video her sister, Courtney spontaneously took in mid-January, she knew she wasn't the only single mother with cancer out there and never imagined it would spread to so many people. She simply hoped to inspire others in her shoes. She wanted to show that "even when you have those moments when you think you can't push through," little hugs and smiles can get your through the tough days.
"What did I tell you? Mommy always comes back. I'm all back from the doctor," Martancik tells her son after the first of many hugs in the video.
While the video shows a small moment, it's significant to Martancik and is representative of her optimism.
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"I figure you always have choices. You can either choose to be miserable and dwell on all your problems or you can be happy and see the best part of a situation," she said. "You always feel better when you choose happy."
After going a long time without working during her battle with cancer, one way she is fighting is raising money to pay her bills and medical expenses through gofundme.com.
"Cancer is trying for round 2. No way," Martancik says on her YouTube and gofundme.com page. At least 286 people have donated in 16 months and she has raised $21,447 of her $30,000 goal so far.
"Time to get my game face on and get my life back!" she said on her GoFundMe page.
Martancik said she is "blown away" by the support she's gotten from both loved ones and strangers. It restores her faith in the goodness in the world and the kindness of people.
"If some stranger is going to give me money over the Internet, go outside and shake a real person's hand," she said.
She still tears up thinking about that moment returning to her son and said that "these minutes of giving him those hugs took away" three tough weeks of chemotherapy.
"It was the craziest feeling ever. I feel like I need to invent a word for it....it felt like being home," she said.
