Cancer- the disease caused by an uncontrolled division of abnormal cells in a part of the body. Everyone hears or sees the battles and losses against cancer but never expects someone close to them to go through that very battle.

This year started as no other; my family sat down in the middle of my grandparent's living room, trying to decide what day would be fitting for our family Christmas due to everyone's hectic schedules. No one expected news a couple weeks later that my grandfather's doctor had found cancerous tumors on his esophagas. It was extremely hard. You go through life, never thinking one of your own could ever have this until it actually happens.

During the endless amount of radiation and chemotherapy, he fought through it like a champion. His weight was steady and showed no sign of weakness.

Finally, the last day of chemotherapy was upon us. My mother, sister, and I drove to the cancer clinic to surprise him as he rang the bell of accomplishment. The days after of the bell of accomplishment, the chemotherapy had caught up with him. Food would not stay down and the body had grown weaker.

Watching someone who has been with me my whole life and had most of my best childhood memories with, did not even look like the same man I have grown up with. It is extremely weird to see him go from working at the barn, going hunting, and taking us on trips to Branson to having to sit in his chair in pain for weeks.

My graduation day had finally approached and he got to watch me walk the stage to accept my diploma from his laptop screen. A week before I graduated, my grandfather had his entire esophagus removed and a new one placed sculpted from his stomach. It really hurt him, not being able to come to my graduation. So I came to him.

A few days after, I surprised him by walking in his house in full graduate attire. It was a day of celebration and tears, which I will always remember. Because that day was my true graduation in my eyes.

Today, there has been no cancerous cells found, but the road to recovery is extremely hard for him. From the coughing fits to the nights where sleep ran away from him, he still fights. My grandfather's physical structure is slowly coming back to him, but his inside has always been the same before and after cancer. He never once has shown defeat, even in the times he was close to not being with us anymore.

As I write from this hospital waiting room, I ask God why. Why would you do this to our family?

As I watch my grandfather leave the waiting room to the procedure room, I hear the words, "Trust me." go through my thoughts. And that is exactly what I will do. I will trust in God to get us and especially my grandfather through the hard times.

"Fight like a Knight. Phillipians 4:13"