A Sign Of Hope & Good Things To Come

The reason I’m sharing this story is because as a country I feel like we are failing miserably and not learning from those mistakes.. Each day there is more bad than good that is shown on the news, internet, etc… And we are all facing very hard times right now and during these times we should lean on whatever faith we have to keep going each day. Imagine if we all tried to lead our lives with a little more kindness and love how much better we may feel right now. Eventually good things will come.

At the beginning of 2020 before the pandemic hit the U.S. my Mom and our family were hit with the news that my Mom was diagnosed with breast cancer. While I’ve been going back and forth trying to decide if it’s right or wrong to share this story, I’m following my gut.

I can only offer my viewpoint because I have never been diagnosed with cancer, however both my parents have been and I can solely speak on the experience I have had from a child/loved ones point of view. I can’t imagine being told you have cancer, and yet there are many in this world who hear those words and go through the difficulties of dealing with the disease each and every day, throw a global pandemic into the mix and that does not help those who are already going through a pretty significant life obstacle.

As a child it’s hard to see your parents go through difficulties in life. I mean we grow up looking up to our parents and all that they do to protect us and make us feel better when we are sick or going through a difficult time. When my Dad was diagnosed with cancer I was in high school and I only remember certain things here and there. Today, as an adult and seeing what my Mom has gone through has been hard. Seeing her try to stay tough and do her everyday activities, work and just live the life she has been given was what seemed to be daunting at times because of the harsh chemicals that have been put in her body to combat the disease. And all we wanted to do as a family was help and make her feel better and sometimes we couldn’t. At times we would all feel helpless in a sense because all we could really do is listen and let her know we were there for her.

BUT with the bad comes the good. During the last 7 months we as a family have seen and gone through are ups and downs but what I would like to say has gotten us through it all is our love and faith. As cliche as it is all you can do is take it one day at a time because there is constant change that you go through. Each one of us in the family went through it. To help distract from the negative we focused on the positive. We created a chemo countdown chain and on each link there was something different. A different question each day, like what was my Mom’s favorite song, or favorite subject in school. Other links had drawings on them or simple messages like we love you. Now I’m going to take those answers to the questions and put it in a family book that we can all have.

To celebrate her last chemo treatment that was yesterday, we released butterflies (they are her favorite). It was a fun experience and to us, a sign of hope and good things to come. As she was going to her last appointment a butterfly flew by her, and even after we released the butterflies there were images of butterflies showing up on the television. Some may not buy it, but I’m a believer in being given signs that good things are on your way. While my Mom still has to go through radiation next month I think as a family we can say we are happy that this chapter is behind us all.

A big thank you to Dr. Soniwala, all the nurses and the staff at Windsong Radiology for being the best there is. To my Mom, you have shown us all how strong, resilient, brave and tough you are. Thank you. Thank you for continuing to teach me every day.

-B