To my family member who won their battle with cancer:

First of all, I want to start this letter by stating how absolutely, positively thankful I am for you. In life, we tend to take so much for granted, especially our family. I never realized how much you meant to me until I found out that you were sick. Finding out that a loved one has cancer rocks your world. It puts everything into perspective. It truly makes you realize that life is crazy, and in an instant, your whole life can change.

At first, I thought the worst. I'm pretty sure this is a natural thing to do. When we hear cancer, we think death, which is a sad reality. So of course, the first thing I thought when I found out you were sick was that you were going to die. What would I do without you? You are one of my biggest support systems. You are someone I laugh with. You make me happy. Now I'm going to lose you. These were my initial thoughts.

I felt bad for myself after a few days. I was depressed, and I wanted to be alone to cry. Friends would try to talk to me and get me to go out, but I didn't. I wanted to be by myself.

Eventually, I realized that I needed to be strong. What made me come to this realization was watching you be strong. You were strong even when I couldn't be, and it was you who was sick... Not me. You handled your doctors' appointments, surgeries, radiation and chemo with strength and grace. This made me realize how strong I needed to be.

So I had an attitude change. Instead of moping around and feeling sad, I suddenly became happy to see posts about how you were doing. I made frequent visits to see you and made sure to text you often and ask how you were doing. I had to stop living in fear. Once I did this, I was happier and I'm sure you were happy to see I was doing better, as well.

As for you, I couldn't be happier to say that you are cancer-free now. You are the strongest person I know. I can't imagine how hard being sick must have been. However, you made it. Your toughness got you through your illness. You have a long, happy life ahead of you, and I cannot wait to be a part of it. I love you to the moon and back.