Who needs your support?

My mom posted this and I have to share because it’s relevant to everyone. Cancer effects everyone, whether directly or as a friend or family member of someone with cancer.

After treatment of radiation and chemo, it takes years to feel somewhat normal. And some people never feel like their old self again. The side effects of chemotherapy and radiation are never gone 100% because your immune system and body are left scarred.

I decided to publish this message to encourage others to support the families, friends and relatives who have fought this disease until the end… Some with good outcomes and some who died because their body couldn’t take any more suffering.

Cancer is a very invasive and destructive enemy to our bodies. Even after the end of treatment, the body remains devastated, and tries to recover from the damage caused by the treatment. As many of you see with me, it’s caused permanent damage to my nerves, tissue, and brain.

Please, in honor of a family member or a friend who died of cancer, or continues fighting cancer, or is dealing with the after effects of cancer (me), please take some action to help them in some way.

How many times have we heard the others say: “if you need anything, don’t hesitate to call me, I’ll be there to help you.” Don’t just say it; do it. People with cancer need someone to just sit with them, take them to treatments, cook for them, bring flowers to cheer them…anything that shows you care and can bring some normalcy to their life.

And don’t just help at the beginning of treatments, or the diagnosis, or right after someone passes away. I think the hardest times are weeks after when everyone has forgotten and gone back to their daily lives. That’s when the hard times set in. Patients and surviving family are trying to get through the physical or emotional pain and the reality has set in.

Reach out to someone you know who has been touched by this disease. You can’t imagine how much that will mean to that person or their family.

Thank you for making a difference in someone’s life!

And thanks to my mom for being there for me every step of the way. She checks in on me all the time. She is willing to drop everything to support me through even the most minor dental issue because she knows how bad the PTSD is for me. She’s taken on so much emotional burden of my disease and it’s hard on her sometimes. But I know she does it because she’s my mom and she loves me and would do anything for me. Thank you, momma.