Ellen DeGeneresis celebrating the life of Lisa Jarmon, a fan-favorite guest onThe Ellen DeGeneres Showwho recently died of breast cancer.
“We fell in love with her spirit and enthusiasm and over the years, she became a big part of theEllen Showfamily,” DeGeneres, 61, said on her show Friday about Jarmon, a single working mom who resided in Fresno, Texas.
“Last week, we got the heartbreaking news that Lisa passed away after battling breast cancer,” DeGeneres shared. “Today, we want to celebrate her life and honor her legacy.”
Lisa Jarmon.
During the episode, DeGeneres gave viewers a look back at Jarmon’s time on the show, which began eight years ago. DeGeneres first met Jarmon after the March 3, 2011, when she was sitting in an aisle seat and cameras captured her excitement about the talk show host’s entrance.
One week later, on March 10, 2011, DeGeneres invited Jarmon back to the show, where she was interviewed on stage and surprised with a brand-new car.
“Ellen brought me on the stage. I sit where stars sit! My butt! And ever since I sat in that seat, my whole life’s changed,” said Jarmon of the experience.
“When Ellen gives you something, she gives you life-changing somethings,” she added.
Nearly a year later — on Jan. 27, 2012 — DeGeneres gave Jarmon all 12 days of her giveaways.
“I almost lost my mind,” Jarmon said. “Whose life wouldn’t be changed after that?”
That same year, on May 14, Jarmon and her children were surprised with their own abode.
Unfortunately, last fall, DeGeneres learned that Jarmon was diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer.
“I feel good right now,” Jarmon, who was wearing a head scarf, told DeGeneres on the Oct. 26, 2018 show. “I’m here. Are you kidding me? This makes me so happy. I mean, everything you’ve done. I’m so happy right now.”
“I love this woman,” DeGeneres said to audiences. “She’s our family.”
While discussing her diagnosis, DeGeneres gave Jarmon perhaps her most touching gift: an engraved seat in the studio.
“When we feel like someone is a member of our family, we give them a seat in the audience,” DeGeneres said. “We found the seat that you sat in and we had the Lisa Jarmon seat right there. All that because we saw you in the audience and you had this light about you and this spirit about you that I just loved.”
During Friday’s show, Jarmon’s best friend, who sat in the memorialized chair, gave an update on how the family is dealing with the loss.
“I’m doing okay. Up and down — some tears, lots of laughter. That’s how she would have wanted it,” she said. “Her family is doing, you know, the same. As well as can be expected, but they know they need to be strong and for her and we’re going to be celebrating her life.”
Despite any difficult circumstances that Jarmon faced throughout her life, she intentionally chose to have a positive perspective.
“When you say you can’t, that’s when you can’t do it. You just never say you can’t do it because you want to do it and so you just do it,” she told DeGeneres on the show. “Just be happy.”
“I never say that I’m poor, I never say that I’m struggling because to me I’m not,” Jarmon said in a video package. “To me I just live like I live. All my energy comes from the Lord up above.”
source: people.com
