Janis (Jan)'s Profile

Hi, My name is Jan. I am 63 and live in Statesville, NC. We moved here from Charlotte, NC in 2007. I have been married for 35 years to my husband, Hadi. He was born in Iraq and came here in 1973. I have a son, Andy, by a first marriage who is 41 and married to Michelle. Andy adopted her son, Maxx. Hadi and I have had three children: Kenon is 30 and is studying to be a physical therapist and lives in Statesville; Anisa is 32, married to Yahya, is a teacher as FSU, and lives in Tallahassee. We lost our oldest son, Tarak, in 2003 at the age of 26 to colorectal cancer. I have a 5 year old golden retriever named Mattie, short for Princess Matilda Marigolden. I enjoy tennis (doubles), genealogy, gardening, and small home construction projects, and historic home preservation. Our house was built in 1916, and I spend most of my time working to restore and preserve its beauty. I also serve on the Statesville Historic Preservation Commission. I would never have guessed that I would have problems with my heart. There have been no heart problems in my family, or so I thought. My older brother recently told me that he had been diagnosed with a heart murmur in the early 60's when he was in the Air Force. Sometimes life throws you a curve ball, or in my case two.