Hard Memories

This morning, as my wife and I were driving to work, we listened to StoryCorps on NPR. Two sisters were remembering their mother, who died of breast cancer in 2003. My wife's breast cancer was discovered in 2003 and she had a total mastectomy and underwent chemotherapy. It was godawful hard on her.

Listening to the two sisters speaking of their mother's courageous fight against the disease was very emotional for me. The daughters remembered little things, but very important things, their mother said and did during her battle with cancer. Listening to them brought back memories of lots of things my wife and I dealt with during her very hard but successful battle against breast cancer. Whenever I think about that time, a new memory surfaces that drives home how incredibly hard it is for a person to cope with a disease that threatens to kill them. The disease is hard on the family, too, but the person who has to deal with the disease personally goes through hell. Those people need and deserve every bit of support their families and friends can possibly muster.