“We were about to walk out the door with a good bill of health when the doctor asked me if I had any concerns. That’s when I remembered her large tummy. He immediately laid her down on the exam table and began feeling around on her belly. His face quickly changed to concern. I looked at my husband and said, ‘This can’t be good.’”
‘I snapped a photo of my daughter on the exam table, bragging about my healthy girl. ‘Come feel this,’ the doctor said. I put my hand on her belly. My heart sank.’
‘We were celebrating 3 years of marriage. I thought life couldn’t get any better. When I laid down, I got news no one wants to hear. I ran to the bathroom and hovered over the toilet, dry heaving.’
“Tears rolled down my face. I went to lie down again and the entire sequence replayed itself. I could hardly believe it. Just like that, we transitioned from ‘recently married’ to ‘patient and caregiver’ and there was no stopping it. We began writing funeral plans.”
‘She could not have been more perfect. When she died unexpectedly 2 months later, I thought my heart stopped with hers.’
“Three months after my love proposed to me, I found a lump. I was told I was ‘lucky’ because I had the ‘good kind’ of cancer. It was a hugely insensitive thing to say. My friends were buying homes, getting promotions, having children – and I’m the ‘lucky’ one?”
‘I was desperate. I called him. He told me I over-iced it and hung up. But he was the best, right? Then I felt a lump. I was home alone when I got the call, I will never forget.’
“I remember signing papers before surgery that said, ‘Check here if willing to receive blood in case of emergency.’ I asked my doctor, ‘Why would I need blood?’ He replied, ‘You won’t, it’s just a formality.’ I trusted him. I believed him.”
‘I wore red lipstick during my mastectomy. The nurses joked I looked ‘too good’ for somebody having surgery. I had a huge party the night before. I bought a wig to look like Britney Spears!’
“We can all become overwhelmed with the negativity in the world. From my experience during cancer I can tell you there is so much good. My support even came from strangers.”
‘I went to my doctor to get an ultrasound of my abdomen. The results sent my world into a spiral. I was in complete shock. Was this the end for me?’
“We all have that inner voice that tells us when something is wrong. Something in your gut. Mine was saying this news wasn’t going to be good. The gynecologist came in, sat next to me on the bed, and said, ‘I’m sorry kiddo.'”
‘I received the terrifying phone call nobody ever wants to receive, ‘Are you in a safe place to talk?’
“I hung up the phone, losing my breath. ‘Stay with me. Stay right here with me.'”
‘I’ve never mentioned this, but your dad was in Vietnam and was around that toxic chemical called Agent Orange.’
“Flash forward to 38 years old. I was diagnosed with cancer, again. AND, was going through a painful divorce.”
‘At 18, it was traumatic to be told I was not going to carry my own child’: Cancer survivor, military spouse beats infertility odds to get pregnant with ‘miracle baby’
“Knowing cancer cells were multiplying in my body was a helpless feeling. She is a fighter already just like her momma, she is our miracle baby.”
‘You may have pieces missing, but you are worthy of keeping.’: Mom’s touching tribute to son who survived cancer
“With my son leading and the lesson heavy on my heart, we walked on as we picked up and kept broken seashells.”
