Fighting for Life
Breast cancer can be a long hard fight for life. After years of treatment and thousands of dollars, many still die every year from this deadly disease. My grandma’s fight lasted five years; however she never showed any of the pain or fear she must have felt.
Everyone knew my grandma as Gran, she was a strong, loving woman, the rock of our family. She was married to my grandpa, Papaw, for 58 years. Together they have five kids, Barb, Dave, Sue, Brenda (my mom), and Dan, thirteen grandkids and fourteen great-grandkids. Gran and Papaw owned a three-bedroom house in Garrett, IN a small town of about 5600.
I remember going to my grandparent’s new apartment the day the results came back, when I walked in she was standing at the kitchen sink, she hugged me and said “I have breast cancer, but everything is going to be ok baby”. Gran, Papaw, Mom and I talked for a long time about the options and how soon they would start treatment. Mom and I left after several hours, both of us crying as soon as we were out of sight, we stopped at the store for cigarettes, my mom had stopped when I was about 5 years old: however I had picked up the habit. I handed a lit cigarette to mom and ran into the store, when I returned to the car she was sitting there smoking my cigarette saying she needed it because she was stressed. The oncologist started chemo treatments immediately; my Aunt Sue took her wig shopping, after picking out 2 wigs, one very close to her natural hair and one a little more modern looking she modeled them for us. Radiation started as soon as chemo was done, Papaw drove her an hour every day to the hospital that offered the treatments. Once or twice a week I would meet them down there and wait with Papaw for the hour she was in the office. Papaw and I would sit there talking about Gran and how she was doing when no one was visiting; anytime someone stopped over she was jumping off the couch to make coffee or trying to feed us. Gran...