When Cancer Came to Call: The Story of a New
Mother
Has your world ever turned
upside down with you still riding along? At age 36, I experienced this. At
first, my year seemed wonderful. On August 4, 2005, my only daughter, Lily, was
born. My husband and I were overjoyed at the event, and friends and family
surrounded us, taking part in this happy occasion. While we reveled in the joy
and excitement of that event, we had no way of knowing that our lives would
soon be plunged into dark chaos.
About a month after Lily
was born, I returned to work full time. Slowly, I began to notice that
something just wasn’t right. I wasn’t feeling well. Something was wrong. I
suffered from sheer exhaustion all the time. I was losing five to seven pounds
a week too. While these symptoms may simply have been brought on by the first
month of motherhood, I chose to seek medical advice.
A myriad of tests followed.
Finally, less than four months after the most wonderful day of my entire life,
I received a diagnosis of malignant pleural mesothelioma. This specific
type of cancer, caused by exposure to asbestos, affects the lining of the
lungs. As a child, I had unknowingly been exposed to asbestos, and now, with a
baby daughter not even old enough to crawl, I was fighting for my life. Without
treatment, the doctor gave me less than 15 months to live. Clearly, it was time
to seek radical treatment at any cost.
When I received this awful
news, Lily was the only thing on my mind. I couldn’t bear to think of leaving
my husband to raise her alone. My husband and I decided immediately to do
anything we had to do in order to beat this thing that threatened our happy
family. We decided that I should receive treatment in Boston, many miles away
from our home in Minnesota.
In Boston, on February 2,
2006, I underwent an extrapleural
pneumonectomy. This surgery entailed the removal of the cancerous lung
along with portions of the chest wall, the heart lining and half of the
diaphragm. Following the procedure, I spent 18 days recovering in the hospital
before convalescing for an additional two months prior to beginning radiation
and chemotherapy treatments. Through all of this, I was trying as best I could
to be a good mother to my little girl. Thankfully, I had help.
While I was in Boston, Lily
went with my parents to South Dakota to stay in their home. Throughout the
length of my stay in Boston, my parents cared for her with the help of many
friends and family members. Without their kind support, there is no way my
little family could have survived this ordeal, and there is no way that I will
ever be able to fully express my gratitude for all that these people did for
us.
During my treatment in
Boston, I missed many firsts in my young child’s life. She began to roll around
on her own and eat solid foods during my hospital stay. Even though I knew she
was being given the best care possible from some of the people I trust the
most, being apart from her that long was heart-wrenching. All I could do was
fight to stay alive so that my baby girl would grow up knowing her mother.
That’s exactly what any loving mother would do.
Through this ordeal, my family and I have learned some valuable lessons. Although cancer is a terrible thing, we have come out on the other side with a deeper understanding of the fragility of life. We truly understand how precious it is. My husband and daughter gave me a reason to fight, to stay alive. To anyone going through difficult times, I would say, keep fighting. Find the positives, and focus on those. You can always find good, even in the worst situations.
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