The word ‘cancer’ is more than a ribbon. Now-a-days, people only know information about the most common kinds, but to be realistic, the ones that are unheard are very rare and dangerous at times. Not in anyway am I saying that the most common ones aren’t dangerous. All cancers need to be viewed the same way. They all need to be known. Who knows, one day you could come home from a friend’s house to the heart breaking news that one of your parents has been diagnosed with cancer.
It was a rare cancer; I knew nothing about. I never even heard of it before. No matter how old you are and what life has taught you, you’re never prepared to hear your parent tell you they have cancer. Having that person be the one who kept you in place and always held your head up high be in tears is the absolute worst. Getting news like this is emotionally draining. At that moment though, you realize that it is time to step up and have a little role reversal. It was now my job to keep his/her head up, be a motivator and passing over an extensive amount of strength.
Watching a parent undergo weekly appointments consisting of blood-work, chemotherapy, or radiation treatments is a terrifying moment. You see them mentally and physically changing over the weeks and it hurts. You look back at old family pictures and tear up as you see the fun times and smiles everywhere. All you want to go back in time and live those days over and over, wishing cancer never came across their life journey. You just start to remember those heart felt memories. How would I forget the time he/she taught me soccer in the front yard, or singing the Gilligan’s Island’s theme song together to put me to bed?
For me, I thought my life was just going to start disappearing. Always worrying about how the treatments are going and the status of my parent was became an every day routine. At the age of 16, you would want to go out to the movies or just spend your summer days at the beach with all your friends, but that wasn’t always an option for me. I would try to spend every second with my parents because I never knew what kind of thing life would throw at me again.
You never know how serious cancer is until it becomes a part of your everyday life. Nothing in life comes with directions. People don’t tell you how hard something will be until you encounter it. This was easily the hardest journey of my life. You start to become angry with everyone and everything. Although you get the best support from friends, family, and people you’ve only talked to once in your life making you feel amazing and loved, it also sucks. Constantly being reminded of your parent with cancer when you just got your mind off the touchy topic. Sleeping becomes an escape from reality. You become emotionally drained after the nights of crying yourself to sleep worrying about the next day. Refusing to cry in front of people because you want to show how strong you really are does not work. That one day will come around and you’ll be in your best friends’ arms, bawling your eyes out making it look like they went for a 10 mile run with that shirt they were wearing. But in the end, you realize how amazing your parent is. They always keep enough strength with them while they fight a deadly disease. They make it look so easy. Although they also get emotional, they try their best to keep themselves on their feet and especially making sure you’re still on track. You try to help them every second you can, but they wont always accept the help. They want to show you how strong they still are and that they are unstoppable like superheroes. In my case, my dad is my superhero. Forever and always.
