Simi woman loses long battle with cancer
Memorial services to be held on Monday
By Darleen Principe darleen@theacorn.com

Tiffany and Cindy Hypes

In the eyes of her loved ones, Cindy Hypes was nothing less than a fairy-tale princess.

Like her favorite fabled characters, she was known for her selflessness, her ability to brighten up the room with a smile and her dedication to the wellbeing of others- traits that earned her a storybook nickname.

"Her nickname was 'Cinderella,'" said Tiffany, Hypes' 16-year-old daughter. "She was always trying to help everybody she could."

When doctors told the Simi resident in January that her gastrointestinal cancer left her with only two weeks to live, Hypes and her family prayed for a miracle- to give her more time to spend with those she loved, especially Tiffany.

Those two weeks turned into 10 months, and it was not until last Saturday that Hypes, a single mother, succumbed to the disease at the age of 42.

Hypes was first diagnosed with cancer last December. After her surgery in January, doctors told her there was nothing she could do but make the most of the time she had left.

Bonnie Miller, her sister, said Hypes improved during the first six months with chemotherapy. But she began to weaken in July, when the cancer spread and her hands and feet began to numb.

"She just fought a long, hard battle, and she did great," Miller said. "She was really an inspiration to a lot of her friends- how she fought through it all. The doctors used to call her their miracle child because she kept coming back."

Miller, 44, said she and her sister were very close. The two were born in New York and moved with their family to California in 1970.

"We drove out here crosscountry," Miller said. "Our dad put a huge box of stuffed animals between us in the car, and he said, 'If you guys are good, when you get to California, you can go to Disneyland.'

"It was pouring down rain the day we got here, and we still went to Disneyland. Since then, it was always one of (Cindy's) very special places," she said.

Tiffany, a junior at Simi Valley High School, said her mother's favorite Disney ride was Big Thunder Mountain; her favorite Disney movie was "Lady and the Tramp."

"She was an amazing mother and my best friend," Tiffany said. "She did everything possible for me even when she didn't think she could. All she would do was work and take care of me. I was her pride and joy. . . . It was just her and me since I was 3."

Cindy Hypes had a magnetic personality. She was loved by coworkers and seemed to know people everywhere she went.

"She had a lot of friends," said Renee Boylan, a friend who worked with Hypes for 12 years at G.I. Industries. "She was always very nice and friendly.

"Being a single mom, she always had to work. But she always went with the flow and handled everything so well. Her daughter was always number one," Boylan said.

Tiffany said she plans on finishing high school and moving on to college- something her mother did not get the opportunity to experience.

A memorial service for Cindy Hypes will be held at 7 p.m. Monday, Nov. 12 at the Reardon Funeral Home on 2636 Sycamore Drive.

The family has asked that, in lieu of flowers, donations be made to the Simi Valley Community Foundation/Cindy Hypes Benefit Fund, 40 W. Cochran St., No. 100, Simi Valley, CA 93065.