Childhood cancer…it’s like no other illness, disease, or diagnosis you’ll ever receive…you hear all the things cancer CANNOT DO but let’s be realistic, how about what it CAN DO and it will do to many who try so hard to not let it happen…

Cancer CAN: cripple love, shatter hope, corrode faith, destroy peace, kill friendship, suppress memories, silence courage, invade the soul, and conquer the spirit… CANCER CAN DO ALL THESE THINGS as a matter of fact it’s very difficult to prevent many from happening if not all to most, you say no way?!? Let your child be diagnosed with a lifelong battle then to find out after years of fighting there’s no end but for them to be set free of all the pain in the heavens. Talk to a parent who has had to tuck their child in for the last time here on earth and crave the day to see them again in the high heavens crying day after day with heartbreak…

Children are not as resilient as you all may want them to be, they are little people who have not had the opportunity to grow yet and some just have no idea what’s happening but let those children grow up in the hospitals with the only world they know is that of chemo’s, IVs, surgeries, transfusions, and etc. where they think their best friend who they wait to see all day long for is the very DR who has to make those dreadful decisions of which chemo they will use to try and save your child…where children get pulled from their classmates to not go back again for years, anxiously awaiting to see everyone they remember to find out most of the kids years down the road after treatment when you can finally return have left for some reason or another…where children cry day in and day out from newborn to early 20’s because they’re just so tired and worn out but they would never dare give up; not necessarily for themselves but for those who love them because they don’t want to let them down…

How about the parents who have lost their jobs because their at the hospitals caring for their child fighting cancer, lost their homes because they lost their jobs, they get divorced because the stress is so grueling they fight round the clock but were madly in love before it all, siblings who fall apart because they felt all alone or they just don’t understand, grandparents who are too old to be raising their grandchildren but are so the parent can be with the child fighting in the hospital…this list is very incomplete and I know that for a fact…in the almost 7yrs Nathan has been fighting for his life I’ve watched all this and more happen around us… YES the saying is very encouraging BUT REALITY SUCKS because it’s not that peachy at all and honestly I’m tired of hearing it…CANCER SUCKS; CHILDHOOD CANCER REALLY SUCKS and it can suck everything out of you and your family starting from A and ending at Z…these children deserve so much more and so do the families stop speculating that they will rebound so fast, because not all do, yes maybe some but not all do, it can test every ounce of your faith, peace, hope, love and courage, it can crush your soul, shatter your world and destroy some of the closest friendships…so instead of telling us who live this nightmare that cancer cannot do any of that; STOP and consider what you’re saying because we don’t need you to tell us to GET OVER IT we need you to understand and be there, show you care…just be there whether in silence or in mutual tears…JUST BE THERE…WE pray for it to be ok, we pray for strength, healing, and answers 24-7; we want to barter, plead, and exchange places…we get it, we live it, please do not tell us how to feel, what is right or wrong or what we should have done before  it all…

WE LIVE IT WE GET IT…

CANCER CAN STEAL YOUR LIFE AWAY… IT’S A HORRID DISEASE!!!