Our mom was diagnosed with breast cancer on St. Patrick’s Day in 1998. I remember sitting in the same chair as Rhian and not knowing what we were crying about or how
serious her diagnosis really was. Shortly after her first surgery, the chemotherapy started up and soon after that, we were the only kids in school with a bald mom. Rhian and I weren’t like other girls in school; we spent every single night lying in our parent’s bed praying and watching our dad give our mom injections. My mom was getting better, but she has never been fully healthy since then. She has since battled stage 4 metastasized breast cancer 5 more times, for an astonishing total of 6 times.
Rhian and I often joke about the circumstances that our family has had to face, but never once do we take back what we have gone through together. Our mom’s strength has made us find strength within ourselves to take everything with a smile no matter how bad you think you have it. Our mom taught us that everything can always be worse. We could have lost our mom over many different battles with breast cancer, but we didn’t. What I have gotten from my life growing up with cancer is an amazingly strong family and two best friends: my mom and sister.
You often hear about how horrible cancer is and the horrible things that it does to people. While that is true, it also brings families and friends close to support someone fighting. My mom is my hero. I have never met someone with such a positive outlook on life despite the cards that she was dealt. She is continuing her battle against breast cancer at this moment, but you would never be able to tell. This past month she had her story posted in the local newspaper and the support has been overwhelming. The sister’s of Zeta Tau Alpha have offered to make my mom a gift basket after reading such an inspirational story. My mom has dedicated her survival to my family. However, I dedicate a lot of my happiness to my mom and realize how lucky I am to have such an amazing person in my life. As Jimmy V said in his speech at the ESPY Awards in 1993 “Cancer can take away all my physical
ability. It cannot touch my mind; it cannot touch my heart; and it cannot touch my soul. And those three things are going to carry on forever.” All of those 3 things are what kept mymom fighting and what has her here today.
Breast cancer awareness month is a time to raise awareness to such a huge disease that affects millions of women. However, it is also a time to hear inspirational stories about survival; stories like my mom’s.