A Modern Epidemic

A Modern Epidemic

Cancer, an ugly word. When someone says it, unfortunately, everyone can relate to it. Even I can, as I said before unfortunately. If you don’t know why it is unfortunate to relate to it you are lucky. Let me tell you the story of my encounter with cancer. 

It was April of 2011 when the call came my mom answered it. Now I was only in third grade but I could tell she was distressed. Now like any other third grader I wouldn’t  want my beloved mommy to be sad. So I did what any other concerned third grader would do and I went over and tugged on her sleeve. She immediately looked down at me and when she saw my little face smiling up at her, she sent back a smile of her own. This was when I knew something was wrong because, my mom is a very loving person and loving people have smile’s that share’s love to everyone who the smile sheds light on. This was not that smile, I began to get worried. My mind raced to try and figure out what had upset her, but like any little kid the conclusions I had developed were more like devastations for me. You might be wondering what a third grader would consider a devastation so let me tell you. For example I thought that maybe Toys Are Us had closed or Curious George had been canceled. Obviously that wasn’t what had upset my mom, so for the next week I practically forgot about it. A week later my mom woke me up at five in the morning and said we were going to Ireland. I asked her why and she said she would explain it on the plane, I wished I never asked. On the way to the airport and in the terminal I pondered why we might be going to Ireland and why my mom had not told us earlier. When the plane left Boston I asked her again why we were going to Ireland, she told me in such a kind and loving way but the answer was still devastating. Four years before the call my Grandma was diagnosed with lung and brain cancer, which I did not know about so I continued with my everyday life. Then the doctor said she wasn’t going to survive through the month and that call that my mom got was my Aunt, Catherine calling to break her the news. So my mom bought tickets to Ireland and now we’re on our way to support her in her time of most need. When we arrived at my grandmother's house everyone was in the front room watching tv with disappointed looks on their faces. As soon as they saw us it was like someone flipped a switch and they all got up and surrounded us with sentimental looks on their faces. We were eager to see my grandma so we kind of had to untangle ourselves from the swarm of relatives. As soon as we were free we rushed up to her room where her eyes lit up when she saw us. My mom immediately rushed over to her bedside where she started telling her how much she loved her. When my mom was done my brothers and I rushed over to greet her with about a million questions but best of all lots of love. This is how the next couple of weeks went with us helping her do simple things or just being there for her. Then one day the nurse said she was not going to make it to the end of the day. Everyone rushed to her bed where they stayed until the nurse told us to let the direct children of my grandmother share the last moments of her life with her and that was the last time I ever saw my beloved grandmother. Now I am 14 and even though I miss my grandmother I know that she passed away surrounded by the people that love her.