Paula Anne Ford-Martin

after more than five years enduring stage IV metastatic breast cancer (MBC). She never liked to

call MBC a “battle” or a “war,” since that implies she had a chance of winning the unwinnable —

beating an incurable disease. She passed peacefully at home, surrounded by loved ones, just

as she wished.

She leaves behind her husband, the love of her life, Tim Hemhauser, and their four beautiful

boys, Cas, Jasper, Chris, and John. She is also survived by her sister, Marlo Kysiak, and her

niece and nephew, Jayme and Matthew, all of whom live in Texas. Paula’s mother, Mary Ford,

lives in Illinois, but has spent the past few summers in Old Saybrook helping out as Paula’s

physical abilities began to be affected by MBC.

Paula’s dad, Paul Ford, passed away in 2017, but Paula is also survived by her stepmother,

Nora; her step-siblings John, Terry, and Debbie; and nieces and nephews Greg, Katie, Jessica,

Asher, and Jackie. All reside in Washington state. Paula and her husband Tim were lucky

enough to have visited them in 2017 for Katie’s wedding to Freddie Wilhelm.

Paula was born and raised in Arlington Heights, IL. She got her BA in Broadcast

Communications from Marquette University in Milwaukee, WI, and an MA in Writing from

DePaul University in Chicago. After working in the radio industry, she began a medical

communications career. In addition to working in online, video, and traditional print media, she

authored and ghost-wrote more than a dozen books on various health and parenting topics.

After a stint managing the Diabetes Guide for About.com, in 2004, Paula joined the founding

staff of the first multimedia company completely devoted to diabetes education, connection, and

inspiration — dLife. She was chief content officer of dLife.com and an executive producer of

dLifeTV. She helped launch this innovative show, which ran for eight years on CNBC. She left

dLife in 2012 and had a thriving freelance career, via Wordcrafts, her own content consulting

business. Her clients included JDRF, WebMD, Healthline, and the Wellness Network. Among

Paula’s many professional accomplishments are 26 Telly Awards, a Communicator Award of

Excellence, a Freddie Award, and an Emmy Nomination in the Public Service Division.

Paula’s first love and priority was always her family, but she also had great affection for animals

(especially her dog Sunny and her cat Nellie). Her professional dedication to patient education

and advocacy earned her deep admiration and respect among the diabetes community, and

served her well when she became ill and began to navigate the world of chronic illness from the

patient perspective. She started a blog ( www.livingwithstageIV.com ) to update friends and

family and also to educate them on the realities of MBC.

The family thanks all of our loved ones who have been so supportive of Paula during her illness.

She wanted all of you to know how much she appreciated the regular check-ins, meals, visits,

notes, and more. The family also asks that in lieu of flowers, donations be made to the Paula

Ford-Martin Memorial Scholarship Fund for LGBTQ+ youth and their allies.