CHILDHOOD CANCER AWARENESS MONTH

September is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month.

I have watched three families grieve the loss of a child from brain cancer. And my own Ro Ro survived a vicious bout with brain cancer at the age of three.  Three surgeries, six months of chemotherapy with six weeks of radiation, blood transfusions, and one month of rehabilitation shaped her life.

Sixteen years later she was diagnosed with ovarian cancer.

What's the lesson?

There is no lesson.  An innocent, beautiful, generous girl didn't ask for this.  Nor did her parents.  Yes, we have learned that people are good.  The good does outweigh the bad.  We have been blessed with family and friends who have rallied in every aspect of our lives, from helping us raise our young toddler Marty while we lived at the Ronald McDonald House to an endless supply of meals to easing the financial burden through benefits and Go Fund Me.  There aren't enough ways to say thank you.

But the reality of loving and caring for a child plagued with cancer is always there, lingering in my thoughts and heart when I'm driving to the store, walking my dog, watching my super-athletic son dominate on the volleyball court, and listening to friends' stories of the successes of all their kids.

And my Ro Ro got ripped off.  And hell yes, I'm angry.

How would her life, our lives, have been different?  Would she be a jock, too?  What sports would she have loved?  Would she have loved hiking like her mom and dad? Would she get all As in English?  

She would have experienced the excitement of getting her driver's license.

Cancer has defined our family for 16 years.  Ro's brain tumor has left her with vision loss, fatigue, academic set backs, and physical limitations.  Family vacations have been limited to what she can handle.  Choosing schools has never been easy. Doctors appointments, MRIs, blood draws and testing are back, flooding our calendar with the stress of who can take off work to take her.  

And then there's fear.

Fear for her safety as she rides the bus to and from community college every day.  Fear that she will lose her wallet for the fifteenth time.  Fear that the food she eats is growing cancer cells. Fear of acceptance.  And the lack of it.

And fear that the cancer will return.

There are no answers, no advice, no comfort.  Cancer is real and it manifests itself in fear.  

Every month is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month for us.

Childhood Cancer Awareness Month