Shitty First Draft

In October of 2011, my mom was diagnosed with stage 3a breast cancer with eight positive lymph nodes; I was in fifth grade at the time. I remember hearing my mom crying downstairs alongside my dad, so I went downstairs to see what was wrong. They sat me down on the bed and broke the news. I never thought in a million years that this would happen to family, every day I asked myself why, why me? I asked why me as if cancer had taken over my life, and in a way, it had. On top of battling cancer, my mom had to deal with my brother who was eight at the time. He refused to even look at my mom without a wig on. My mom decided that she would shave her own head, taking one thing off the list of things that cancer could and would take from her. Over the next seven months following my mom’s diagnosis, she had chemo every two weeks for five months, 33 sessions of radiation, and two surgeries, a double mastectomy and a hysterectomy. During these seven months, my dad did everything, he made dinner and took care of my mom, he took my brother and I back and forth from school, social events, and sporting events. Finally, in April of 2012, my mom was diagnosed “cancer free”, I finally had my mom back. To this day, she takes chemo pills every day and will for the next four years. I remember I was out on the lake one day with my mom and one of my friends, and my mom was wearing a bathing suit that was meant for someone with boobs. So, when she would bend over or basically make any movement at all you could see right into her bathing suit where her boobs used to be, this area is now occupied by huge scars. Being the young, immature kid that I was at the time, I found myself embarrassed that my friend could see right through her bathing suit, so I said to my mom, “Mom pull up your bathing suit you can see into it.” She replied and said, “Quinn it doesn’t matter, there’s nothing there.” This goes to show that even on some of her worst days, she found light in negative situations. To see the person, I love and look up to most in this world, in such a weak and vulnerable state, was an experience I cannot even put into words. Throughout my mom’s battle with breast cancer I learned that not only is my mom the strongest person I know, but that life takes unexpected turns. For this reason, I no longer take life for granted, I live every day of my life to the fullest.