When I was little, I was not quite sure what cancer was. To me it was just a word and I had only seen it on tv. Then, as I started to get older, I started to figure out what it was. I watched loved ones around me suffer from this disease.

I learned quickly that cancer just didn't affect the person who had it, but everybody around this person.

The first time cancer affected me was when my grandfather was diagnosed. I was still fairly young at the time and still was not quite sure what was happening, and why it was happening. I learned that cancer can take everything from a person to the point where they want to give up. I watched a man who was once so lively, who traveled constantly, become someone who he didn't want to be.

He fought a good fight and won. However, his battle took a toll on him and it wasn't long before he passed.

The next time I encountered cancer was my junior year of high school when my mom was diagnosed with breast cancer. By now I had a better understanding of just what cancer does to someone.

From surgeries, to chemotherapy, to radiation treatments; I watched my mom who is the strongest person I know become so weak. I watched her struggle and I saw her in so much pain, and the worst part is there was nothing I could do besides hold her hand and say everything was going to be alright. But things would never be the same like they once were.

This brought my sisters and I together. Our mother was suffering and needed us. We supported her each step of the way. When she was weak, we were strong; together we were her rock.

I learned that cancer doesn't care. It doesn't care who it affects, it doesn't care who it kills, no matter the age or how healthy someone was. Cancer just destroys.

To everyone that has survived cancer, is currently fighting, or has lost the battle. You are strong and a fighter, and cancer is a b*tch.