*In loving memory of all lost to this horrific disease. They are dearly missed.*

Dear Cancer,

I am going to be honest, I despise you and the work you do. You capture the innocent and feed off the poor. You spend day in and day out rejoicing in the life you are creating. In most cases, you don't sleep or take days off. You invite friends over to party and essentially destroy the house you have claimed as your own. You don't clean up your mess, only cause more. You don't take time to see the damage you cause, but laugh and rally carelessly with your friends. You're like a house party with an invited that cannot be declined.

I write to you out of sorrow and grief. I have had many family members attend your house party. They felt the wrath of your endless work. It ran them down and drained the life they had left. As you were creating life for your party and you multiplied, I watched my loved one losing touch with the life they had. As your friends arrive and you continue to destroy the house, I see the one I love become less of who they are and more of you. You build yourself up and slowly take them down. As you create mess after mess and don't bother to clean up, I drown my self in tears as I watch my family fall to their knees begging for more time. You're not here to dry the tears of my mom and soothe the cries of my pa. Where are you to clean up that mess?! As you laugh and rally with your friends, I have to make the most of the time I have left with the one I love because at the end of the day, it could be their end and that is something no one is ever prepared for. You sent out invites to your destructive house party to a vast majority of my family and they never got a chance to decline. Because of you, they are gone.

I grew up learning the concept of not hating another and to kill people with kindness. You, oh you, I have made an exception. I HATE you with every inch of my being. Ever since you first made an evident appearance in my family, you have done nothing but break us down to our weakest points. I have no kindness in my heart for you. When you took my loved ones from me, you took apart of me that can never be recovered. I am good at forgiving, but I will never forgive you.

Even though you thoughtlessly stripped them away, their memory will live on with us and they will never be forgotten.

Signed,

A Destroyed Family Member

*A special dedication to my role model, best friend, and the greatest nanny a girl could ask for. You are the reason I am who I am. Share some love with Aunt Carla for me. I miss you both and I will always love you more.*