suddenlysinglewomen

In 1995, my mother was diagnosed with breast cancer.  I remember this clearly. It was shortly after the birth of my first son.

It was a fluke the way she was diagnosed, really. Some unexpected bleeding in the middle of the night led to a trip to the emergency room, where the cancer was discovered. One of her tumors had ruptured, which led to the bleeding.

When you hear the word “cancer” in relation to a family member or yourself, it prompts a whole array of emotions that you may have never experienced before. But the one emotion I remember my whole family clearly feeling during that time was fear. No matter what doctors say the prognosis may be, with cancer, you never know.

After months of chemo and months of uncertainty; and another scare a few years later with a secondary uterine cancer, my mother was declared to be…