Meet Sara Tapparo

Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Sara Tapparo. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Sara, so many exciting things to discuss, we can’t wait. Thanks for joining us and we appreciate you sharing your wisdom with our readers. So, maybe we can start by discussing optimism and where your optimism comes from?

I would have to say my optimism comes from my faith. Over my life God has shown Himself faithful over and over again, especially after my daughter Ashley gained her wings 6/6/22.

Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?

I am a wife, mother of 2 girls, Angel warrior mom and cofounder of Mama Bears Fighting Childhood Cancer. I am also a medical assistant for now 26 years with Kaiser Permanente.

My passion is my family! I absolutely love watching my family grow through all phases of life. Being a mom is the greatest and yes hardest job lol.
I am also passionate about patient advocacy. As a pediatric cancer mom and medical assistant in both Adult&Family medicine and now Urology, making sure patients understand their health and health journey is extremely important to me.

I am also the Director of Bereavement, Peer and Emotion Support at Mama Bears Fighting Childhood Cancer.
My goal is to make sure every pediatric cancer family finds immediate support in our 24/7 support groups as well as receives a Hospital survival wagon or Clinic cart. We want each family, here at Mama Bears, to know they aren’t alone!
We are definitely stronger walking this journey together. Myself and the other 4 cofounders found this out first hand when we met on the pediatric hospital floor during COVID while battling our child’s cancer. What a blessing to find each other. What started as a Mama Bear private chat group between us 5 has now grown into a thriving 200+ group of families walking together!
We now serve 8 NorCal hospitals treating Childhood cancer.
We knew parents/caregivers desperately needed support. Now they have a place to feel heard, be encouraged and yes laugh in the midst of this lifelong battle.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

Wow, I’d have to say:

Compassion/kindness is what this world is lacking and in most need of. I see first hand that when we take time to come alongside someone, life feels easier and brighter.

Self-care would be another that I have been working on. So often we forget to care for ourselves, while caring for others. This can affect our mind, body and spirit. Working with my life coach at PIVOT has helped me learn tools and steps to take better care of myself. Since my daughter’s passing from Ewing’s Sarcoma (bone cancer) at the age of 18 1/2 in 2022, I am learning clean eating, improving my exercise and mindfulness.

Medical Assisting has been an incredible job! I have been able to care for my patients and work with incredible colleagues. I have learned from great doctors and nurses which in turn I try and pass down to others coming into the field. The human body is so fascinating to me. I am also a Health & Safety champion and member of our UBT for the urology department. Safety for both my department and patients is very important! Safety first!

What has been your biggest area of growth or improvement in the past 12 months?

In the last 12 months, self-care. I always thought it was selfish but after therapy and applying the tools I’ve learned , and still learning, I see it’s extremely important. I always worked from an empty cup to the point of extreme exhaustion and being overwhelmed.
Helping people and making sure they know they aren’t alone in this world has always been important to me. I just have to remember, I can be a better helper when I am working from a full cup!
Seeing the growth I am making in this area, thanks to my faith, my family/friends as well as my life coach at PIVOT, has been life changing. My Mama Bear family is a life support I couldn’t live without. They get what it means to walk the childhood Cancer journey as well as the Angel part of this journey. I don’t feel alone and they always remind me to take one day at a time and find the sunshine or silver lining in the day.

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