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PITTSBURG —
Lynn Fountain believes that she has never been alone, even during the most difficult times of her life. She believes that God’s angels have been with her every step of the way.
Fountain has detailed this in a memoir titled “Pathway of Angels - Guidance Through Lessons Learned.”
The daughter of Frank and Margaret Villamaria, she grew up around Frontenac and Pittsburg, graduating in 1980 from PIttsburg State University where she was involved with the Student Senate, cheerleading and Greek activities.
“My mother had 14 siblings and I think every one of them resided in Frontenac,” she said during a telephone interview. “I think of the whole town as my relatives.”
In her book, she tells of her happy childhood in Frontenac, but notes experiences which could have led to very unhappy results, including the occasion when a new heating unit malfunctioned and carbon monoxide leaked into the family home. Fountain and her brother felt ill but went to school anyway. However, their mother, sister and younger brother might not have survived if not for a neighbor who was part of the fire department and realized what was wrong.
Another story tells of a neighbor’s dog who found his way back to the Villamaria home when his owners moved out of town. The neighbors finally allowed the Villamaria family to have the dog, and a few years later the heroic animal died saving his favorite human, Fountain’s brother.
“I believe pets can be angels, too,” Fountain writes in her book.
After graduation she took the CPA examination and got her first job with an accounting firm in Kansas City, then later entered the corporate arena. She also, in May of 1985, married her husband, Brad. Over the years the couple had three sons, Andrew, Adam and Austin.
Her health crisis started in 1998, when she became extremely ill at work. Normally healthy, Fountain realized that something had to be wrong. Doctors at first thought it was her appendix and removed it. However, she continued to have symptoms over the next two years.
“In the summer of 2000 I got really sick,” she said. “They said that a cyst on my pancreas was six times larger than it had been. Since I had never been told I had a cyst in my pancreas, this information was quite alarming. But the pancreas is hard to operate on, and you don’t want to mess with it unless you have to, so they wanted to just sit and watch it.”
Lynn Fountain believes that she has never been alone, even during the most difficult times of her life. She believes that God’s angels have been with her every step of the way.
Fountain has detailed this in a memoir titled “Pathway of Angels - Guidance Through Lessons Learned.”
The daughter of Frank and Margaret Villamaria, she grew up around Frontenac and Pittsburg, graduating in 1980 from PIttsburg State University where she was involved with the Student Senate, cheerleading and Greek activities.
“My mother had 14 siblings and I think every one of them resided in Frontenac,” she said during a telephone interview. “I think of the whole town as my relatives.”
In her book, she tells of her happy childhood in Frontenac, but notes experiences which could have led to very unhappy results, including the occasion when a new heating unit malfunctioned and carbon monoxide leaked into the family home. Fountain and her brother felt ill but went to school anyway. However, their mother, sister and younger brother might not have survived if not for a neighbor who was part of the fire department and realized what was wrong.
Another story tells of a neighbor’s dog who found his way back to the Villamaria home when his owners moved out of town. The neighbors finally allowed the Villamaria family to have the dog, and a few years later the heroic animal died saving his favorite human, Fountain’s brother.
“I believe pets can be angels, too,” Fountain writes in her book.
After graduation she took the CPA examination and got her first job with an accounting firm in Kansas City, then later entered the corporate arena. She also, in May of 1985, married her husband, Brad. Over the years the couple had three sons, Andrew, Adam and Austin.
Her health crisis started in 1998, when she became extremely ill at work. Normally healthy, Fountain realized that something had to be wrong. Doctors at first thought it was her appendix and removed it. However, she continued to have symptoms over the next two years.
“In the summer of 2000 I got really sick,” she said. “They said that a cyst on my pancreas was six times larger than it had been. Since I had never been told I had a cyst in my pancreas, this information was quite alarming. But the pancreas is hard to operate on, and you don’t want to mess with it unless you have to, so they wanted to just sit and watch it.”
Fountain might have followed their recommendation, but her brother, physician Frank Villamaria, called her and advised her to go to the Mayo Clinic, where he had completed his fellowship.
She went, and was stunned to learn that the cyst was actually a tumor and was obstructing the duct running through the pancreas. Also, the Mayo Clinic doctors believed the tumor was not malignant, but could possibly become cancerous later on. They recommended immediate surgery.
Fountain was also advised to write letters to her three boys just in case she didn’t survive the delicate operation.
“This was at 5 p.m. and I had to be at the hospital at 6 a.m.,” Fountain said. “I stayed up all night trying to tell my sons things that I wouldn’t be around to tell them.”
She survived the surgery, of course, with 30 percent of her pancreas left. Her sons were 13, 11 and 4 at the time of her surgery, too young to receive their letters.
“I gave my older two sons their letters at the time of their high school graduation,” Fountain said. “My youngest son is 16, and I’ll give him his letter when he graduates.”
The book came about as a result of a career change. Aquila, the company that she had worked at for 11 years. folded in 2008, then she went to another company and left it in August of 2011.
“I wondered what I was going to do then, and somebody said, ‘What about that book you were going to write?’” Fountain said. “I wrote it in about two weeks and submitted it to a publisher. I included parts of the letters to my sons. It’s kind of a story for women, too, on balancing a career and family.”
It reflects her belief in angels, that there is something better in the world and that there is always someone looking out for her.
“It doesn’t mean that bad things won’t happen,” Fountain said. “But when they do, I will have someone with me.”
The official release date for “Pathway of Angels — Guidance for Lessons Learned,” published by Tate Publishing and Enterprises, is Oct. 2. It will be in book stores for $10.99 (paperback), but is also available for purchase as an eBook download.
“I currently have the book available for pre-release events and I plan to identify a place in Pittsburg to do a book signing,” Fountain said.
