Dear Kids,

I get it. I understand how hard it can be. I first hand watched as this disease took over the Super Hero in my life. I know what it's like to think things are okay and have that all ripped away in a matter of seconds. There's nothing scarier than walking down the long corridor of the hospital. Stepping into a room with plain white walls that are almost too harsh to look at. Sitting down as the doctor comes in, only to say the one word that haunts you to this day.

Cancer.

Once the word slips out of their mouth, it seems that everything else that's said means absolutely nothing. Staring off into the abyss hoping that someone made a mistake. Surgery, chemo, radiation, sickness. Such scary words for someone to hear.

At the age of 17, two weeks before my senior year started, I was told my mother had stage 3 colon cancer. The next day they brought her into surgery and began a year of chemotherapy. I missed school to attend the chemo appointments, took on a role for my siblings while she would go to work, and need to come home and sleep right away, watched as she still powered through being a mom and made the three of our lives as wonderful as they could be. It was hard to watch her slowly get weaker and less "herself".

I know that's hard. When you're a kid of someone who has cancer, you watch first hand as they become someone who you don't recognize. It's scary. It's not fair. We take on a whole new responsibility of taking care of the person who's taken care of us for so long.

After being told the odds, there's no way to really prepare yourself for how things are going to turn out. When we got the news that cancer had cleared and she was good to go, I think we all just sat in silence for awhile. It was hard to believe at first.

But being the child of a cancer survivor has taught me a lot of things. For instance.

1. I learned what it's like to be strong

2. I understand the true meaning of sacrifice

3. Realizing what it means to value life and those involved

4. Fixing relationships that are broken, if they really meant something to you at a point in time

5. When setting goals, sometimes the journey is more rewarding than actually reaching the goal itself

6. Not everything is worth worrying about. If it won't affect you in 5 years, don't waste 5 minutes thinking about it

7. Real friends are those who are by your side no matter what, sometimes we just forget their there

8. Patience is key

9. Living for the "now"

10. Love always

11. Miracles do happen

Life isn't always fair. And second chances are extremely rare. But by watching life be nearly taken away and questioned, it's easy to see just how much better I have made myself as a person, and how my outlook on life is forever impacted by those who have been affected by this horrible disease.

God Bless.

Sincerely,

A cancer survivors daughter