Never Give Up...

My Dad, Mom, brother, sister, and I back in the day. Crazy but happy :)

The pain and sorrow of December 22, 2011, slowly began to fade. As we said goodbye to 2011 one of the toughest years my family has had to endure, we welcomed 2012, which was sure to be a year of many difficulties. Something to know about my Mom...She NEVER EVER let her cancer define who she was. She continued to work, as she went through 4 more rounds of that horrible chemo, and once again showed all of her doctors and family just how strong she was. At this point I was at school right around the corner from Dana Farber and made sure to visit her on her chemo days. I sat with my mom, my dad and my aunt. We laughed and shopped online. As sad as it was to be in such a place where there were so many sick people, my mom once again found the light at the end of the tunnel. She somehow always looked so healthy throughout her whole illness. When she finished her 4 rounds of chemo, and then went in for another CAT scan. The unknown of moms illness is what got to her the most. Not knowing if her cancer had and I quote a Dr. "started to rear its' ugly head", was always a fear that was in not only her head, but my entire family. I remember nights before her CAT scans. I would stay up all night, of course fearing the most, but hoping for the best. Once again, my mom showed the doctors and Pancreatic Cancer, who was the boss! Her CAT scan came back and showed her tumor has remained the same! NO CHANGES! That is big news when it comes to Pancreatic Cancer, usually chemo does little to nothing with this disgusting disease. I remember the text my mom sent me I was in STATS class, "No change in tumor!". I was so happy. Just meant I had a little longer with my mom, my best friend, my role model. I was determined to make my time with her the best I could. Once again she worked out a new plan of attack with her oncologist, and was going to be doing radiation 5 times a week and chemo 24/7. A grueling form of attack, but something my mom said she was willing to do. Let me rephrase not willing, something she knew she HAD to do. She wanted to make it to my older brothers law school graduation. So once again my mom set mini goals and was determined to fight back.

"Whatever life gives you, even if it hurts you, just be strong and act like the way you always do because strong walls shake but never collapse."