It really is fitting that I write this on International Women’s Day about a woman who I so deeply admired, Victoria “Vicki” Pons. Vicki was one of the bravest, intelligent, and joy-filled people I have known.

I met Vicki when I first moved to Houston and my friend Stephanie asked me if I wanted to do Team In Training with her. Jokingly I said, what's that? Vicki at that time was training for the Nike Women's (half) Marathon, I later learned that she had fought and beat Leukemia when she was younger and I asked her to be our honored teammate the following season.

A redheaded Mexican who went to Texas A&M on an archery scholarship, she had a keen eye for mullets in the wild and a love for travel, adventure, and a great story. She turned many of her friends (myself included) into undercover mullet photographers, posting and tagging her on Facebook. I still laugh every time my epic trouser snake jean short-wearing mullet man pops up in my social media “memories.” I am sure I am not alone when I say, I will think of you, Vicki every time I spot a mullet. Were you responsible for the mullet’s recent resurgence? Perhaps.

Vicki had a love for life and always had a twinkle in her eye, despite having faced and beat leukemia and breast cancer. It was pancreatic cancer that took Vicki's body, but her joyous spirit will live on in all who knew her. She chronicled the past couple of years’ adventures as well as her health on her blog: Cancer Part III. Until we laugh together again, my dear Vick, rest easy my friend.

As she was going into hospice last week, she asked her friends to help her ensure that her CASA kid went to college to fulfill her dream of becoming an immigration lawyer. Please consider helping make her wish come true by making a donation through her go fund me. That’s the kind of person she was, empowering those around her, those she cared about, until the very end here on earth.

Donate