Living With The Disease

 
Amanda Zamora - Photo by Amanda Klotz
Amanda Zamora
Photo by Amanda Klotz

By Amanda Zamora

In November of 2012, my mom was diagnosed with stage four breast cancer. She had a lumpectomy in the right breast. She has to go through four-five hour chemotherapy sessions with the strongest medicine, along with 40 radiation treatments. The hardest thing for me was watching her lose all her hair.  Witnessing her brush out clumps of hair will be an image that I’ll never forget. My mom, through all of this, stayed my mom. She took us to school, helped with homework, cooked and cleaned, and acted like nothing was wrong. My mom also made sure that we had a good support group. Two years later the support group continues to stand by  me and my family. I learned that cancer doesn’t make the person, but that the person makes what she will of dealing with cancer. It is not easy to be the child of a mom who is battling a serious disease.

Tustin High freshman, Zack Apperson knows what it’s like to see his mom suffer. Zack’s mom was diagnosed with stage five kidney failure five years ago. For these years his mom has been on dialysis. Every night she has to hook up to a machine before she goes to bed. Zack says that the doctors help a great deal with his mom. The thing that helps Zack get through everything is, “When I see my mom smile.” Her happiness makes him feel good.

Many people have different ways of coping with their parents’ diseases. The loved one or loved ones, will always be there for you, when you’re throwing up, losing your hair, can’t get out of bed, and needing help with shopping. Knowing that someone is there for the patient through thick and thin, always helps them defeat an illness.

When you’re a kid and you see your mother or father go through something as terrible as a life threatening illness, you can’t help but think that you’re going to lose that parent. It feels like one day you’re going to get a call saying that your mother or father passed away. When watching a loved one go through excruciating pain, you can’t help but cry. You wish that you were going through the pain, not your loved one. You don’t care about going out or doing things with your friends. All you want to do is go home and spend time with the person that matters most to you, because you don’t know how long they have. Every day is a blessing because you still have that one person you’ll always love.

A few ways I dealt with this difficult illness is through escaping at school, talking to friends, and going to a counselor. It takes strength to get through this. Being helpful around the house made me feel like I was doing something to help. It made me realize that I’m so grateful to have my mom. It made me look at things differently. Seeing my mom through this disease matured me more than I ever realized.

 

One Comment Add yours

  1. Alexis Diaz says:

    Amanda, your mom and so many other survivors inspire everyone to persevere and to obtain resilience. Great article.

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