Stronger through My Mom's Cancer Essay

Two days before my senior year, I was involved in a car accident. I was in absolute shock; I couldn’t believe what just happened. A man turned into the wrong lane and hit us head on. I thought about what happened in total disbelief and realized I could have died due to the actions of a negligent driver. I jumped out of the passenger side of the car and screamed. After I calmed down, I asked myself what my name, address and phone number was to make sure I knew who and where I was. My mom got out of the car and I saw her arm covered in glass and blood. I then saw my sister in the backseat screaming and crying. It felt horrible witnessing them going through this traumatic experience.

You could tell my brother was screaming as much as he could with his small little lungs. I quickly ran over to our tiny bathroom wondering what was going on. There you could see my little brother using all his force to hold up my mom who had fainted on our cement floor. Even with the two of us repeatedly yelling at her to wake up, her eyes stayed closed. I began to really worry. I ran over to her bedroom and scurried through my blanket looking for my phone. As my sister dialed 9-1-1, I ran back into the bathroom where my brother was sobbing. My sister had already called my aunts and cousins over. They were all trying to help wake her up. They called out her name multiple times. They also hovered rubbing alcohol under her nose, in hopes of her waking up. I let my brother know that everything was going to be fine and that the ambulance would be here in no time to help my mom. I was shaking as I sat next to my brother helping him hold up my mom. My older cousin took our spots and helped sit my mom up.

Tears poured down my face like I was in a rain forest, hugged my mom tightly as if she was a cuddly stuffed animal and I prayed, prayed like I’ve never prayed before. Not really knowing what was going on or what was going to happen. My sister arrived home, followed by my dad shortly after. While we waited to hear back from the hospital, we sat on the couch in the living room bawling our eyes out probably. Don’t worry, I will tell you about what is going on.

It all started with our family sitting at the dinner table with my mom crying, holding crumpled up tissues with black streaks of mascara on it. My dad nervous enough to say, “Your mom has stage four breast cancer.” Those words have stuck in my head clear as a bell for the last eight years. Our faces of curiosity soon turned into fear. As an eight year old I didn’t understand a lot of words grownups said, but those burning words were sharp knifes on my throat.

I attended Squareville high school, along with about one hundred other kids. Squareville was small, population of about six hundred. I, being one of the six hundred, didn’t mean much to Squareville and I was well aware of it. I live with my mom, Joann, and my sister, Hannah; My dad passed away about a year ago. Our, now, three person, family isn’t nearly the same. We used to laugh and smile at breakfast, we used to tell jokes at dinner, and wish we could all be together during lunch but obligations made it infeasible. My dad refused to ever show he was in pain so the day my dad was diagnosed with cancer was shocking, then two weeks later he passed. The cancer was terminal and the doctors had caught it way too late. After he passed things

I can’t exactly say I remember it like it was yesterday. The only reason I won’t say that is because I can’t remember how I felt, if I felt anything at all. What I can say, is that I remember exactly how everyone around me felt. I’m not sure if it was the sufferance that made me numb, or if my brain is simply blocking out the immense sadness I must’ve felt at the time. Either way, it all started the beginning of April in 2012. When my mother first told me that we were going to drive to Canada because of a family emergency, I’m sure I must’ve felt shocked at the news; my mom usually hates when I miss school, especially that late into the year, but I obliged. I didn’t have a choice really, so my mom sat me down to tell me what exactly the family emergency was. Turns out my aunt Cristy had cancer, stomach cancer. I looked it up later that day, still slightly confused, as stomach cancer is rare. I slowly began to understand things, whatever it might mean to understand cancer anyway. My aunt had a very rare stomach cancer. We were driving 16 hours to Canada to see my cancerous aunt.

She had had her surgeries, making me feel helpless I couldn´t do anything. The fall months had came and this it when it hit me harder. She had begun to lose her hair and become weak from the intenseness of the chemotherapy. As a fifteen year old sophomore, it´s hard to overcome this negativity and adversity. Seeing someone you love and especially someone who has been there your whole life go through this kind of pain is not a sight you want to see; this makes you want to shut down, not do well in school, sports, and your soical life. All you want to do is make your loved one better and when you can´t it can be very defeating. In the months following my mom had always reasured me, seeing the women I look up to most fight this made me want to fight adversity just as hard. It gave me hope to see my mom in the stands during those cold football games, seeing her cheer me on even though it may have hurt. Then it gave me hope to see my mom there when I had won indoor state in track, breaking records and making my name, in the spring months. It gave me hope when when my mom had finished her chemotherapy and radiation and started to regrow her hair. It gave me such reassurance and a more positive attitude that even though she may not feel one-hundred percent she still acted like she did to support her kids and show the most unconditional love. She´s

I was 9 when my mom received the phone call from her oncologist – he was fairly positive that she had breast cancer. Cancer. I remember feeling so hopeless and afraid – how could I live without my mother? How could I stand by and watch her die, unable to do anything to help? Even until today, I still remember the feeling of desperation and hopelessness

We had just moved in March 2007 into my new house that my grandpa had built for us. I was so happy because I wanted to be closer to my grandma and grandpa. My grandpa was finishing up our house and his hip started hurting so he and my grandma went to the doctor. My mom was really stressed out because she didn't want anything bad to happen to him. One morning in April of 2007, my grandma and grandpa got a call from the bone specialist and they said that he had bone cancer and his hip was destroyed from it. Within the next few days they were planning hip replacement surgery. He had the hip replacement surgery and had to walk with a walker. Then things got worse because the cancer had now spread to his lungs and was stage 4 cancer. Within the next few months he had a massive stroke. Four days later my mom finds out my dad had stage 4 colon cancer and will not make it very long. One day later my grandpa took his last breath while holding my grandma’s hand. My mom was very upset about my grandpa dying and my grandma was screaming for him to come back. They had to take my grandma into another room so the funeral home could come in and get the body. My dad was still doing good at this time but then things changed.

Throughout my entire life some of the closest people to me have either lost their lives to or are currently battling against cancer. Recently I came home from Philadelphia where I go to college and the next morning when I went downstairs to my dad immediately telling me to sit down because he had to tell me something and simultaneously my mom is sitting soundlessly next to him. An overwhelming feeling instantaneously came over me and I knew I wasn’t going to hear good news. My dad asked me, “What is multiple myeloma?” and unhesitatingly my heart sunk and broke into a million pieces. I screamed out of fear, “Who has cancer!” and my dad with a look of grief just stares at me without speaking and I turn to my mom who looks at me with a distraught face. I screamed, “Mom, do you have cancer?” and I got no answer so I screamed, “Dad, do you have cancer?” and still no answer and lastly I screamed, “Does grandma have cancer?” and still I get no answer. Terrified at this point I am begging for them to tell me and my dad says you will have never guess who was diagnosed with cancer. After guessing wrong my parents finally told me and I was left speechless. It was my uncle and he has always treated me as if I was his own daughter. I never expected to hear this news and I especially never expected something so tragic to happen to such an amazing man. After processing the news for about a week I called him and he talked to me as if nothing has changed and he was telling me, “Kajel I am

I held my siblings hands, and my mother’s as I was crying my last tears. I heard a voice, from my mother, “Sweet child, never, look at this moment as a disaster, look at it as a” Her voice died out. I hugged her with all my might and cried at the same time. I could see them all smiling, as if they were in a better place now.

One sunny day in the summer of 2012, I was up at my Aunt Jenny’s house when I got the unexpected call from my grandmother. I knew that my mom had health issues but I thought they were all solved when she got the first surgery when she was 14, but I never thought that I was going to nearly lose my mom again from the same situation. It was hard to know that I could have lost her so abruptly. It was extremely hard to get used to my mom being in the hospital and having to learn what I was going to do next in life. I tried to keep myself occupied so I would not have to think about her in the condition she was in but that only made me more depressed than I was to begin with. I did not have any one to talk to about it and I just kept all my feelings inside because I did not want anyone to know how horrible I truly felt. I started to understand for what reason and why it happened when I met to my best friend of four years. Sophie is a big

In March 2011, I found out my mom was pregnant and then the next month I found out she had breast cancer. At first, I did not understand what breast cancer was but then my mom explained it to me. She told me that she was going to be sick and lose her hair for a little while. I am an emotional person and I did not know if my mom was going to be okay, so I cried a lot and my grades began to drop. I talked to my counselor often and we became very close because I was always there because of this situation. After my baby sister was born, the treatments and medicine became stronger but she became weaker. In the end, she beat cancer and now is living a healthy life. The lesson I learned is that all

Sometime in November, two years ago, my mom was diagnosed with breast cancer. This unwanted surprise hit my family hard. We didn’t know what would happen or if my mom would need chemotherapy or not. The doctors told us that if she got an operation that would remove the cancer, she would be fine. So we waited for that day. I didn’t feel right, knowing what my mom was going to go through. I almost wished it could’ve happened to someone else. I thought the other kids in my class were lucky, not having to go through a hard time like this. Finally, the dreaded day arrived. I hugged and kissed my mom, then went to school. I honestly forgot about the surgery for most of the day, until I came

It was an early saturday morning when my parents woke my sisters and I up. They said we all needed to come down stairs so they could talk to us. We were sitting at the kitchen table when my mom told us, she had been diagnosed with stage 2 breast cancer. I remember crying for about an hour straight and i just kept thinking why? Out of all the people in the world why was it my mom, one of the most important people in my life. that was just the beginning she still had so much to go through. My mom had multiple surgeries some major and some minor, chemo and radiation. I remember when she came home from the first treatment she was weak and very tired. I was so scared for her.