Breast cancer affects loved ones

BREAST CANCER, Page 3

“My mom had cancer for six years, and most of the time during those years I tried not to think about it. I didn’t want to accept the fact that my mom was sick, so I would always act selfish towards her,” Penney said. “I surrounded myself with horrible people that led me to making some stupid mistakes.”

Having a mother with breast cancer can truly affect children in many ways. Some embrace the idea and spend as much time with their mother as possible, while others remove themselves from the situation. Breast cancer not only deeply affects women who are battling the deadly disease, but also their loved ones, especially if they have children.

“When the doctor told my mom she had less than three months to live, she didn’t sit around and sulk. She ordered gifts for all of her doctors and nurses that had taken care of her over the years, and brought them to the hospital for them all,” Penney said. “My mom was always positive, even when she knew she was going to die.”

Whether mothers live to tell their story of how they beat breast cancer, or pass away trying to get better, most children view their mothers the same way.

“Basically, my mom is a warrior,” O’Brien said. “When I think about how she fought her cancer head-on, I can’t do anything but respect her. She has shown me the strength I want to have if I have to go through something like breast cancer, but if I do, I’m okay. Maybe in the face of something scary, the image of the pewter letters that spell out ‘FAITH’ won’t seem so silly to me.”

“Now that I’m older, looking back at it I wish I could do it over again. I wish I could have spent more time with my mom,” Penney said. “I view my mother as an incredibly strong person after everything she went through.”

“Because of how my mom always put her kids first and loved us so much, I cannot wait to be a mom so I can do things with my children that my mother never got to do with us.”