"Monster"

Can you think of one word, which can tear a family apart in the matter of seconds? One word that makes you asks why my child, why him, why her?

I see it all the time another child being diagnosed with this “killer”. Cancer does care how old you are. A little over a year ago I began to follow a page on Facebook. Prayers for Lane Goodwin, I learned so much about children who have cancer as well as their families. Lane was a strong child and I loved to follow his story, he wasn’t much younger than I am, but even though he was younger he taught me more than anybody ever has. He fought a long and strong battle against Alveolar Rhabdomyosarcoma, which is a rare and aggressive cancer in children. Day by day I followed Lane’s story, I saw stories and pictures that his mother posted and he was like me. He was a child he wanted to do the same things I did, but he couldn’t. This “monster” that we call cancer kept him sick in bed, until finally he passed away. Lane was the very first child I ever followed, that had died and it hit me hard. Once I followed Lane his mother would share pages of other children and I then followed them as well. Little by little I saw beautiful children ripped away from their families. I saw mothers who fell apart and Fathers who didn’t know what to say. Childhood cancer takes babies away from their mothers, but we don’t do much about it.

September is childhood cancer awareness month. Sadly where I live I did not see a single store with a shirt or a cup supporting these children. I see the pink ribbon year around, and I’m thankful that we support the women who have breast cancer; but we also should be supporting our children who have cancer as well. You may ask why I say our children, I say our children because many times the family looks to their community for help. Treatments are expensive the gas to get back and forth is expensive, so the families need help. Does helping mean giving them thousands of dollars? That would help buts that’s not what the families ask they ask for you to spread awareness to help their child. Imagine if it was your child, your two year old little girl is too sick to play dress up. Or your ten year old little boy who is too weak to go camping, imagine that your child doesn’t want to go to school or take pictures because her hair has fallen out and the kids tease her. Imagine having to watch your child die right before your own eyes and you can’t do a dang thing to help them. Imagine looking at your child who is smiling as they take their last breathe in your arms. The “I love you daddy” and the “goodnight mommy”, is gone. You won’t ever hear that little voice again. You can’t walk past their room without tears falling down your face. Imagine being a mother who can’t even buy an ice cream cone because it reminds you, of your two year olds chocolate covered face. Then it hits you like a semi that your babies gone and you won’t see that smiling chocolate covered face. You won’t hear the “I love you mommy” and the “goodnight daddy” ever again. It all comes rushing back that this “monster” took your innocent child.

What makes these parents feel worse is nobody seems to care. You see pink ribbons but where are the gold ones? The shirts all say “fight like a girl”, but where are the ones telling you to have “super hero strength” like a child? How come every year the three day walk is huge for breast cancer, but once again you hardly hear about the walk for the children? How come the schools have a wear pink day in honor of the woman fighting or who fought breast cancer, why not have days to wear gold in honor of the children who are or who have fought cancer. I’m grateful that we help support our woman and I think we should keep it up, but I also think we could and should support our children more. Remember that the children who fight are just as important as the women who fight.