As a parent facing cancer, we just want to know that our children will emerge on the other side of our diagnosis and be alright.
BY Sarah DeBord
PUBLISHED August 27, 2018
Sarah DeBord was diagnosed with metastatic colon cancer at age 34. In the years since, she has turned her diagnosis into a calling, and become an advocate for other young adults diagnosed with colorectal cancer and parents with young families facing cancer. She works as a communications and program manager for the Minneapolis-based Colon Cancer Coalition , volunteers her time with the online patient-led support community COLONTOWN , and blogs about her often adventurous experiences of living with chronic cancer at ColonCancerChick.com.
I cross paths with many parents newly diagnosed with colorectal cancer. In the midst of trying to wrap their heads around a cancer diagnosis, they are also trying to integrate this most unwelcome guest into their homes.
It is completely unfair and not right that you find yourself facing a cancer diagnosis when you have nothing but hopes and dreams for the way parenting and childhood is supposed to be. You have done everything you can to protect them from the pretend monsters under the bed and the real monsters lurking in the world. Yet, here at your doorstep is the most real and feared monster of them all, and you have no choice but to let it in.
It is completely unfair and not right that you find yourself facing a cancer diagnosis when you have nothing but hopes and dreams for the way parenting and childhood is supposed to be. You have done everything you can to protect them from the pretend monsters under the bed and the real monsters lurking in the world. Yet, here at your doorstep is the most real and feared monster of them all, and you have no choice but to let it in.
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