Cancer: I Think About Family and Reunion

Fallyn Moore, Reporter, J1

Cancer-Noun; any evil condition or thing that spreads destructively. When people think of cancer, they think of death, chemotherapy and hospitals. I think about family and reunion. Cancer may tear people apart, but it also has the power to bring loved ones back together.

My grandmother was diagnosed with stage four colon cancer about three month ago and when I found out, I cried for days. My mom called me, as I was with my dad in Georgia, and said that when school started my sister, her, and I would fly to Wisconsin and see her for a week.

The whole plane ride, I was thinking how hard it would be to see her in the hospital bed, hooked up to a dozen machines, but when I actually went to see her the next day, it was a lot easier than I thought it would be.

It was made easier by all of my family being there to support me and everyone else. None of us cried, at least not in front of her. We were all trying to stay strong.

Throughout the visit, we recounted on all the summer memories we shared over the years, smiling and laughing. Grandma was listening intently to all the stories, reliving them with us. During the stories from the bunkhouse adventures and the tubing fails, she was smiling and laughing with the rest of us.

Seeing her happy made all of us feel better, and it brought us closer. When we went to the lake house, which was where we were all staying at the time, everybody stayed up late talking about life and how we all have been since the last time we saw each other. We were in same room, talking to each other and growing closer, all because of the bad situation that was thrown in our faces.

Cancer causes many, many problems, but it also brings families together. Talking about old, nostalgic memories and spending time together is what cancer really does. Yes, it has killed many people, but those deaths, or maybe just the illness itself, brings a whole family closer. Luckily, my grandmother is still alive and fighting and now I know I have people that will always be there for me through any situation and any fight we, or I, have to fight.