BY TERI R. WILLIAMS
PHOTOS BY DAPHNE WALKER
RAISING A HOUSE FULL OF CHILDREN–
BOTH HERS AND OTHERS–MARGARET
COLLINS LEARNED HOW TO BE A GIVER.
BUT WHEN A DEATH SENTENCE LOOMED
AT HER DOOR, SHE LEARNED TO BE A
RECEIVER...OF MIRACLES AND GOD'S GIFT
OF GRACE.
A ccording to the MRI, the neurologist felt certain that
Margaret Collins had a glioblastoma brain tumor. “It was
basically a death sentence,” said Debra, the oldest of
Margaret’s five children. “Any treatment option at that point
would only treat her symptoms. He said she might have a
month to live.”
It had all happened so quickly. The first time Debra
realized her eighty-two-year-old mother wasn’t quite
herself was in January (2018). “Mom and I usually take my
grandkids snowboarding once a year. This year, the trip was
in January. We go up to North Carolina or wherever we can
find a mountain with some snow on it. When we got there,
I noticed that Mom wasn’t herself. Instead of going out with
everyone, Mom sat in the hotel room or sat in the car while
everyone got out to take pictures.”
Even though her behavior was uncharacteristic, Debra
thought perhaps her mother was just tired. But when she
became disoriented on the way home, her daughter knew
something was wrong. As soon as they were home, she took
her mother to the doctor only to have every test come back
normal.
But Margaret continued to worsen. Within only a few
short weeks, she was confined to a wheelchair. Finally, she
was sent to a neurologist, and she was sent for an MRI. “The
tumor was so large that it had shifted her brain and caused
her right eye to bulge,” said Debra. “She had complained
about her eyes hurting. Now we knew why.”
Margaret was not the typical eighty-two-year-old by any
means. For her eightieth birthday, she asked for a kayak.
“She went kayaking five times last year,” said Debra. “She
cuts her own grass and wouldn’t hesitate to run get on the
tractor out there if she had a need for it.”
But then, Margaret Collins could never be called
ordinary by anyone.
When Margaret married in 1955, the only change to
her name was from Miss Collins to Mrs. Collins. To add to
the irony, both Margaret and her husband J. B. grew up in
Collins, Georgia. “We didn’t know each other growing up.
We met at church. We finally figured it up that we were
maybe sixth cousins,” she laughed.
Hometown Living At Its Best 79