My Mom's Diagnosis

It's hard losing your mom because you feel like you have lost everything. My mom wasn't just my mom she was my bestfriend she always knew how to cheer me up and even though she didn't have very much she still went out of her way to make sure that me and my little brother did. My mom was a strong person but the sickness

Losing my mother, the most important person to me , was a life changing event that altered the way I see the world. Knowing that she is in a better place and at peace is everything I could've wanted for my mother. As me and my siblings grow older we miss her more every day. I have learned never to take someone for granted because we aren't promised forever with them. We have to make the most of who and what we

Without my family I wouldn't be the person I am today. Ever since I can remember my family has been there for me. Especially my older sister Kyla. She as been there for the ups and downs in my life. There is no other person that understands me, knows me better than my sister. Without her I don't feel complete, I like i am missing

Everything is perfectly fine, everything is great, then one day it all comes crashing down and shattered pieces are left. My life would never be the same but I guess change is for the best and it forced me to become the person I am today. It’s rough to be the oldest child, especially when your mom is diagnosed with stage 4 cancer and you have 3 younger sisters that look to you for comfort when their mom can’t be there. When the cancer is spread throughout your moms body doctors can’t just get rid of it no matter how badly you wish they could. Rounds of chemotherapy only slow it down, yet it’s still there a lurking monster waiting to reappear at any given moment. Nothing can even begin to describe the fear I felt, and still have to deal

You never truly know how much someone means to you until they are gone. All of the hot summer days spent at her house, the home cooked meals for lunch, the daily routine of watching game shows on GSN, the hours and hours of playing monopoly, and working the concession stand at Evans Park for the summer are now just cherished memories that I have with my grandma.

She meant the absolute world to me, she still does. I miss everything about her. She inspired me so much. She was such a strong person, I loved how she ALWAYS stood up for what she believed in. Her family was her number one priority. Her and I, we were close. I love her so much. I have so many great memories with her. My favorite memory with her is when, it was her birthday, she came to stay a few nights with us, and it was my grandma, Jace, who was a newborn at the time, and I at our

Going through my parent’s divorce was very life changing for me. I went through so many emotions, which until this day is a topic that is hard for me to talk about. It was very sad not seeing my parents together, having no clue where my dad was and seeing my mom sad. I would love to spend time with my parents and brothers. For example, our Sunday’s mornings, seeing my mom cook breakfast, watching my dad drink his cup of coffee, watching TV with my brothers, then playing Latin music seeing my parents dance. I loved that so much. So not having that out of

One weekend, we had decided to clean out the house to surprise my mother. My father found papers stashed away that revealed theft charges; my mother had stolen medication when she substituted for the nurse in my elementary school. I remember my dad scouring the house for more evidence, even finding a stash of pill bottles under their mattress. She had another court date coming up that he learned about, just a few weeks before a family trip to Disney. Shortly after that hearing, my family took our last vacation as a whole, knowing that a key member would be lost to us the Monday after our return; she was going into work-release for two months. Before the end of those sixty days, my father learned that my mother had been unfaithful. Their marriage ended, and at eleven and nine, my sister and I said what we didn't realize would be goodbye to our mother for a great while. Her drug abuse continued, and months of time would pass between visits. We saw that sweet, ideal mother devolve into an addict. This loss has shaped me greatly, and it has taught me integrity, strength of character, and great love for others; without these things, my mother cost herself her family and

My parents had been married for thirty-four years as the time of her death. During that time, they raised three children and were the proud grandparents of six grandkids. No one had to guess where you stood with my mom – they knew. She gave love and showed compassion to anyone who allowed. Growing up, all of our friends called her “Mama T” because she mothered so many and her last name was Tatum.

Though some may say, myself included, that the death of a family member is one of the hardest, toughest, traumatic things to deal with, it also comes with a good side. That good side is that it brings people together to not only mourn over a loss, but to celebrate the life of someone great. One can either sink from a situation like this, or one can rise. I feel like my family and I chose to rise from this. We were all changed in so many ways. My grandma, Veronica, was especially changed the most. She and my granddad did absolutely everything together. They

There were many other losses that occurred as a result of the divorce of my parents. We had to move so I also lost my home. My mom became a single income family and we suddenly were financially insecure. My dad, who was my hero, was suddenly not a part of my everyday life. My mom became withdrawn and depressed and so in a sense I lost my mom too. All these changes and losses make this one incident in my young life the most significant. The effects of the divorce of my parents followed me well into my twenties.

I knew that my mother needed a solid support system and optimism in the atmosphere, so that is what I gave her. My mom would struggle with making meals like she always used to, found it hard to go to my school activities, and seemed to be a completely different person because she was so physically drained. It was incredibly hard to see my mom in so much pain. I would stay home to be with her because I hated to leave her alone. My mom getting cancer made it hard for me to focus in school, sports, and I failed to be a typical teenager by not being with my friends very often.

I can still remember vividly the day my mother passed away. My mother passed away at a critical point in my life when I was seventeen years old from a short term illness. She was sick for a week and I remember thinking this could be serious, however, my mother declined to go to the hospital because of the distance and financial hardship. I had loss my father when I was three years old, so my mother was a single mother. I have step sisters and brother, but I was not particularly close to them. Losing my mother was a defining moment in my life for it changed my life irrevocably. I was devastated, but I had to become strong, proactive and it spurred me to choose a new career path.

I remember everything as if it were yesterday. The shock, the sadness, the pain, and the sickness she had to suffer. I remember sitting beside her, holding her hand as she had IV’s put into her arms. I remember the conversations we had; she’d explain to me how she just wanted to go outside again; she’d be enthusiastic for the day she got out of the hospital; we made plans for when she beat cancer. Two years have gone by so fast, and there hasn’t been a day I haven’t thought about her.

This left my mom with seven kids to raise by herself. Meaning one on one time was rare, because my mom is not a superhero and could not be in multiple places at one time. Grief left my family and I in a place where we did not know what to do, but we eventually got out of it, and continued on with our life. We always remembered the hard working parents we had, and the hard working mother we still had. I am resilient and got back on my feet and continued to attend school, graduated elementary school, and will soon graduate from high school. Although, I have gone through many difficulties it has made me work harder as an individual and choose my career choice at an early age. Being that I was very into the heart at a young age, and my father passing from a heart disease, I always knew I wanted to study cardiology, and will someday soon become a cardiologist.