Standing Up for Mary

My mother has cancer - lung cancer. When you are young and growing up, cancer is always something that other people get. It doesn't affect you. You feel sorry for those who have it but go about your merry way and really don't think about it - until it happens to you or to someone you love. That is what happened for me almost 5 years ago.

My mother went in for a routine doctor exam and was told she was pre-diabetic. As always happens in my family, she armed herself with the all the tools to take care of herself. She went to nutrition classes, took her readings and took the prescribed meds. Mama would share with me the recipes she got and she even started working out at the local senior center. She was getting healthier and it was great to see. One night I was woken by a call. Mama was at emergency, they may have to intibate her, come now. What?!? It had to be like 2am? Was this a joke? I tried to call my brother back but he didn't answer. I rushed to the hospital and she was taking a breathing treatment. Apparently she had an allergic reaction to her diabetic medication, lysinopril and it almost cut off her airway. She spent a day or two in ICU as they got her stabilized. She was put on steroids as a treatment and was sent home. Some how I realized something just wasn't right.

A week later I got another call. Mama was taken to the hospital for heart palpitations. By now I am starting to question what is going on. The palpitations were due to the steroid treatment. She was in the Cardiac Unit for observations and tests. One of the tests showed something - they weren't quite sure what it was. More tests were ordered. As we advance forward about a month, after a lot more tests and biopsies, I find myself waiting in the hospital waiting room. She was in surgery having a biopsy done on her lymph nodes and lung. If it is benign, they would remove her lymph nodes and the upper right lobe of her lung. If it is cancerous, they would close her up, she would have radiation and chemo to shrink the tumor, then they would go in and remove the lymph nodes and upper right lobe. It was cancer. My mother, a never smoker had lung cancer. I had read not so good things about lung cancer - I wasn't prepared for this.

But my mom is a fighter and a wonderful woman. She went through her treatments with the determination to live and fight this disease. Right now, she is doing wonderfully well. They don't see any evidence of the disease and will soon take her off of her chemo treatment - which he is happily looking forward to. We have lost others in my family to various forms of cancer. But I have always believed that my mother was given this disease to be a testament to others that you can beat it and you can live. Don't look down on those who are going through illnesses. It is only with your well-wishes and prayers that they draw the strength to endure.

As I listened to some of the stories on the Stand Up 2 Cancer show tonight, I was reminded of the stories that they did not highlight. They didn't tell my mom's story or may never know about her. But I do. And I am standing up for her. Lung Cancer is the least funded of all of the cancers but affect the most people. We have to stop the stigma that associates it with blame of something that you did to your self. No one deserves cancer. Support those who are fighting. I'm Standing Up For Mary. Are you?