There are many meanings for the word “strength.” To have strength, you can be physically strong, have strong skills/talent or are able to keep your head up when things are going wrong. It takes a lot to be strong when the world is crumbling down around you. All you have to do is stay positive and live life.

The strongest person I know is my mother. She has been through so many hardships in her life and has conquered through it all. For almost 12 years now, my mom has been clean from drug and alcohol addiction. She battled with drug addiction starting at 16 years old. After a night of partying, she ended up in the hospital with multiple organ failure and ended up in a coma. People all over the world were praying for her. Her parents got prayer groups in Spain to even pray for her. She ended up gathering the strength to pull through it and ended up getting the help she needed and now she is clean and healthy.

There are many other reasons why my mother is a strong person and more stories to prove so. Along with helping her addiction to drugs and alcohol, my mother also quit smoking. Quitting smoking may not be a big deal to many people, but it is to me. It was her go-to addiction after she got clean and I could tell that it was slowly killing her. Her smoking addiction was so bad that the nicotine was embedded into the walls. One day, she decided that she better quit before she gets lung cancer. She started taking these pills to help calm her addiction and help her quit cigarettes easier. I remember I walked out into my living room and saw my mom going outside in the middle of the night. So when I looked out the window and saw her smoking, of course I went out to stop her. After awhile, the pills started to kick in and she did not feel the need to smoke cigarettes. I find it funny that right after she quit smoking, she met her fiance, the love of her life.

Even though those examples may have been years ago, my mother is still an extremely strong woman to this day. Recently, she was diagnosed with breast cancer. In May of this year, she noticed a lump on her breast. She went to get a mammogram, but the mass didn’t show on the scans. They then gave her an ultrasound and the mass still didn’t show. It was very concerning that the lump wouldn’t show up. So after about 10 different tests, they finally diagnosed her with breast cancer. While my family and I were on vacation, my mom got a call on her phone from an unknown number. She answered and right away they told her that she has breast cancer. When she got off the phone, she broke into tears. My family was in disbelief and complete shock about the news. All we wanted to do was enjoy our vacation.

Once we got home, we started telling family and friends the news. Everyone was devastated. We ended up posting on social media about it and we wanted to get people praying for her. When she almost died before from her drug addiction, we believe the prayers saved her life. So we wanted to get people praying again. Almost 500 people responded saying that they are praying for us. The support that we have is overwhelming. They diagnosed her with stage three breast cancer. The cancer is aggressive, so she is receiving the most aggressive treatment possible. My mom is so terrified for the treatment, but she is staying very positive and strong throughout the entire process. Currently, she is very tired and sick, but as long as she keeps her head up, everyone thinks she will pull through and beat this terrible disease. We also have a fundraiser for her so she can pay medical bills and we have almost $3,000. If anyone can beat this, it's her.

https://www.gofundme.com/pattyanncancerfund

My mother is the strongest person I know and she is honestly my hero. She has overcome so many obstacles and always had a positive attitude through it all. I am grateful to be her daughter and to have such a close relationship with her. So when I think of the word “strength” the first person I think of is my mom.