Aunt Alice is not actually my aunt, and I never met her. The fact that I am grouping her with my own mother should give you a hint of how amazing Aunt Alice was. (I know that sentence is not grammatically correct) Aunt Alice lost her battle to breast cancer in December. She battled this disease for years.
It began as breast cancer, but through the years it spread. It spread everywhere. The cancer went to her bones, her ovaries, her brain. No organ was safe from the monster. Chemotherapy became a daily occurrence in Alice's life. Yes, a daily occurrence. Alice never gave up. I quit chemo after my fourth round. Yep, I told my husband that I was not going back and no one could make me. (He called my mother and I went to round five and six) Alice's chemo didn't end at round six. Alice's fight consumed her life, but she still lived. Alice lived with grace, dignity, and love. The people in her life will never forget her. Aunt Alice is synonymous with the word strong. I often borrowed her strength throughout my journey. Even though she is not physically here today; her strength and spirit will be with me forever. Happy birthday Aunt Alice!
My mother will be celebrating a major milestone next month. She will be thirty years cancer free! It is difficult to write about a wonderful woman who lost her battle than celebrate someone who won. This unfairness adds to my hatred for this disease. My mother received her cancer diagnosis at the ripe old age of 32. Not only did she face a cancer diagnosis, but her father lost his battle with cancer at the exact same time. My mother buried her father and two days later began her own. I never knew about my mother's cancer, because my mother and grandmother hid it from me. I remember her being in the hospital, but nothing else about the cancer. Right after my grandfather passed away, my step-father left. As I got older, I learned that he left because he could not handle her diagnosis. Coward! My mother protected me at a time when her life was in complete disarray. The cancer returned in her other breast six months later. At this point, my mother got rid of the darn things. My mother refused chemotherapy and radiation. She saw the effects of chemo on her father and simply refused. My mother lost her father, her husband and kicked cancer's butt all in the same year. She is amazing!
I cannot reconcile why one is not with us today. It is not fair. I have learned that not much about cancer is fair. I do know that both my mother and Aunt Alice are cancer free today and in that I can rejoice!
