As soon as we told our sweet, innocent children that I had cancer we all knew that our lives were forever changed. This was a scary place we were heading towards.
Tasza & I - Spring 2006
Tasza cried right away. Then she asked me if I was going to die. I told her that I would die someday like everyone but that I certainly wasn’t ready to do that yet. I couldn’t make any promises but the chances were pretty good that the treatments and medicines would do their job and kill the cancer. Her next question was whether I was going to wear a wig or a scarf on my head. That made me smile and I told her I hoped she’d help me decide when the time came for that if that was even going to be necessary.Alex was very quiet. His eyes were watery but he didn’t say a word. So, I hugged Tasza very tight and then I asked Mike to take her and talk to her so that I could be alone with my son.
Alex & I - Spring 2006
As soon as they left Alex let his tears come and just held on to me like he would never let go. What he said next was so heart-wrenching. He said, “Mommy I’ve been praying every night that you wouldn’t have cancer so how could God let this happen when I’ve been praying so hard?” That’s a pretty tough one to answer so I just asked him to keep on praying. We sat there together just hugging each other for a long, long time. Afterwards we talked a bit more about it and then I told him we’d all need some time for this news to sink in but that we would do whatever it took to make sure we got rid of this cancer.We reassured both kids that we would keep them informed on everything that we learned at every step of the way. We also made sure they knew how much we loved them both. We told them that this wasn’t anyone’s fault and that cancer can just happen to people. We needed them to know that they could talk to us about this at any time. If they had questions or if they were scared or if they just wanted to talk about it then we were going to be there for them. Always. We were going to get through this together. As a family. Plus my Dad and Sheila would be there for them to talk to if they needed to. They always were anyway – cancer or no cancer. Sweet Child O' Mine - Guns & Roses
