“My nails weren’t painted and I curled my hair myself in between wiping away the endless stream of tears. It wasn’t staged or super fancy. It was a dad doing what he always did best: sweeping his girl off her feet one last time.”
‘’Will you ask her to marry you?’ My dress was overnighted. Mom helped dad into his suit. I choked on tears.’: Woman creates father-daughter dance before dad’s passing, ‘He always chose joy’
‘All of a sudden, he was quiet. ‘Is this when the monster started growing?’ The terror waited around the corner.’: Mom loses son to brain cancer, ‘He was so happy to be a part of our family’
“I like to go through my pictures of Aiden. The people in them have no idea what is coming. I always slow down as I get close to the day he was diagnosed. Maybe I’m trying to stop it from happening.”
‘I felt DRUNK. I had to spit in a cup two or three times daily and I could barely walk straight. ‘You have a baseball-sized tumor in your head.’: Health coach battles brain cancer and experimental surgery
“I was a complete and total workaholic-girl-boss with my own business. I started noticing headaches often and having spit-up episodes. Part of me thought it was anxiety. These episodes, I found out, were seizures.”
‘That’s not normal.’ I took her to the ER. ‘Mommy, I want my fingers and toes to get all wrinkley.’: Mom thankful for those who helped ‘walking miracle’ daughter beat cancer
“‘She was feeling better, but there was light vomit here and there. Then, on the afternoon of Saturday, March 24th we were at a party and I noticed her right eye moving inward, Slow down, I’m dizzy,’ she said.”
‘I noticed changes in Jason’s behavior. He was tired and depressed all the time. His headache would just not go away.’: Widow re-marries after loss, ‘Celebrate the good every single day’
“Jason ended up in the ER. Within hours, we were told, ‘He has a 5-7 years left to live.’ Or so we thought. Only 14 months later, I’d attend a grief camp with my kids where I would meet Jason #2. We kept our relationship secret, at my request. I adored him. I was nervous whether my in-laws and friends would accept my new love.”
‘3 weeks after our trip to Disney, I stared at a black and white image with a mass that took up a third of my son’s brain.’: Dad urges ‘never take a day of normalcy for granted’ during quarantine after losing son to brain tumor
“We were isolated for 28 days in the hospital room. He was immunocompromised. Our world consisted of hand sanitizer, hospital masks, and surgical gloves to avoid contamination. As we watch the news, we hear the increasing mortality rates for coronavirus, some 3%. I would’ve given anything to hear those numbers for my son. Normalcy was ripped from our hands.”
‘Do you think you’re dying?’ my husband asked. I couldn’t even hold my baby. ‘I don’t know, maybe?’: Woman beats breast cancer despite all odds, ‘I had one foot in eternity, I felt it’
“I had one foot in eternity, I felt it. With no prior treatment, the doctor looked at me and told me I was ‘too far gone’ and to get my affairs in order. I thought for sure this was the end of me. My husband and I rejected that answer.”
‘With perfect clarity, our 20-month-old looked up at us. ‘I love you.’ It was a miracle days before he passed.’: Father recalls tender moment son diagnosed with childhood cancer shocked parents, ‘Those words are forever etched in my memory’
“A miracle came just days before he passed away. At just 20 months old, our son had only verbalized one word. Dog. Yet, he responded to my wife and I as we laid over his crib, tears falling from our cheeks, expressing our love for him. With absolute perfect clarity, our little boy looked up at us. I held him for the last time. I crave his smile. I miss seeing his eyes light up.”
‘Help me, mama. Pleeeease, help me!’ Covered in sweat, he escaped the doctors. That was it! I was DONE.’: Boy beats cancer 3 times, ‘He wasn’t supposed to survive his first day’
“The doctor looked me square in the eye. ‘Brain tumor.’ WHAT?! I looked at my baby playing with Tonka trucks. ‘I’m sorry, but I think we both knew it.’ WHAT? Are you freaking kidding? No, I didn’t! I sat in the pre-op area signing consent forms. I wrote in large letters, ‘NO STUDENT OR RESIDENT IS TO TOUCH HIM.’ Never again was I going to just accept what a doctor said without question.”
‘No. It’s just a sinus infection.’ I demanded my husband get tested. A full-blown yelling match ensued. ‘OK, OK.’: Woman loses husband to Brain Cancer after ‘sinus infection’ misdiagnosis, ‘This is a never-ending healing journey’
“Ray, the epitome of health, awoke to a terrible migraine. I asked for a cat scan. ‘He is FINE,’ I was told. I knew in the depths of my soul something wasn’t right. 20 minutes later, the same doctor and 3 nurses rushed in. The door flew open so hard it bounced off the wall! The nurses ripped cords from walls, tossed his belongs on the stretcher. ‘Whoa, what’s going on?!’ The doctor, without even looking at us, said, ‘We found a mass. It’s the largest I’ve ever seen.’ He turned and left the room, never to be seen again.”
