Fighting for his Life

"It's hard to fight when the fight ain't fair." -Taylor Swift

Two weeks ago, the only thing I knew about cancer was that it stems from our own cells.  I learned that in my Bio 111 class, which is the only college course I ever made a B in.  We didn't discuss cancer in grave detail, but the parts we did discuss very much normalized the disease to me.  As an overachieving student, I find myself caught up in the science of cancer, rather than remembering that this is a disease that effects people and their families.  Until it affected me...

Just under a month ago my mom casually mentioned that my step dad had been experiencing some pain.  He had some tests run and we knew there was some fluid built up around one of his lungs.  At this point, I was not taking this issue seriously as I believed that it was simply misplaced fluid that could be extracted and everything would be fine.  The fluid was removed, however, everything was not fine.  Within a few days my step dad could no longer breathe and was having intense chest pain.  At this point he was taken to the hospital to be further evaluated.

The next couple days were a blur.  It was a lot of tests and waiting.  Finally the words that everyone is afraid of and no one wants to hear were announced: Cancer.  

We are all very scared right now.  We are all waiting and watching and putting a whole lot of faith in doctors we don't know and science we've never heard of.  I've never seen my mother so afraid.  I've neglected this blog for five months and I guess the reason I'm turning to it now is this:  when I was in a place of darkness and despair, this blog offered me a place to turn to, to be reminded that I am not alone.  When I thought my life was over, the 16,000+ people that have clicked on this page reminded me that it wasn't.  So now, I need you all, just one more time... for my mom and my step dad.  Any words of encouragement, kind thoughts, or shared stories.  I've enabled comments directly on the blog as well as on Facebook. 

Thanks for helping me take care of my momma.  

P.S. If you're in the NC area and you know of any 5K's for Leukemia/Lymphoma, I would love more information.  Also, my family and I appreciate all of your kindness during this time.