Cancer Can Sneak Up Anywhere

One of my first encounters with cancer occurred when I was in middle school. Beginning seventh grade, I was naïve to the world of sickness and heartache. My grandma had died of cancer when I was little, but I had hardly known her and she had not been close to my mom so it was not a huge impact on our family. I suppose, being a seventh grader, I was riding on my experiences that life is simple and wonderful. Things such as cancer, death, and sickness, were events that happened to other people, not me or my family or friends.

My middle school was composed of teams. Basically, you were put onto a team with a hundred or so other kids and then you only had classes, lunch, and everything else with those specific kids. When I found out I was on team 7 central well, that was the biggest heartbreak I had had yet. NONE of my friends were on my team. I was alone. Obviously, this tragedy in my life is nothing compared to somebody having cancer.

Fortunately, that very first day I was sitting in math class, trying to scope out someone to talk to when my eyes landed on this shy looking blonde girl. I decided that I was going to win her over as my new best friend. Well, I ended up being successful in that endeavor and pretty soon Amy and I were inseparable. I had landed myself on the band team for some reason, so I took band back up, made a lot of new friends, and was soon pretty happy being on seven central. Now, I know you are probably thinking this has nothing to do with cancer. I’m getting to it…

Eventually, through band and Amy, I met Katie. At the beginning of the year, Katie was a happy and enjoyable friend. But, halfway through the year, she found out her mom had cancer. Katie was not my best friend, but she was still someone I had become close to throughout the year and hearing that her mom, her own MOTHER, had cancer , was extremely frightening. I suppose, as a seventh grader and based off of my experiences, cancer was something that, if it did happen, happened to old people. Not our parents! Katie’s mom was only in her thirties, yet she was fighting this terrible disease, and she was quickly losing the battle.

Going over to Katie’s house and hanging out was a bit of a surreal experience. Although everybody hoped she would fight through the chemo and beat the cancer, Catie and her family were all not sheltered from the reality of what was most likely going to happen. It was difficult spending time with Katie’s mom because she was so nice and warm and amazing. Being in their house you could feel the love the family had for each other; it was magnified and intense because of the knowledge they might not be together much longer.

Not long after my last visit to Katie’s, her mom did lose the fight to cancer. I would like to say that Katie mourned and then moved on eventually. But that did not seem to be the case. The cancer that beat Katie’s mom also beat Katie. She withdrew from her friends, and started hanging out with a different crown. Katie’s mom had been the glue that held her family together. I continued on into high school, and Katie and I remained friends. It is clear that her mom’s death from cancer will always play an impact on who she is. How could it not? Fortunately, eventually she found a boyfriend who was good to her, started caring about school again, and got her life straightened out.

I am lucky enough to never have lost someone extremely close to me from cancer, or anything else for that matter. But, my experience with Katie and her mom’s cancer showed me just how precious life, and the people in our life, are. We should never take them for granted and we should appreciate each and every moment we have with them.

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