Cancer. Such a scary word. Cancer can ruin lives and break families. It's never fair, it doesn't pick only the worst people to get it. Here's the proof: it's what my family is facing.
On Thursday, I learned my father has cancer. This isn't the first time, either. He had skin cancer before I was born, and he ended up just fine. But this, this is different. It's in his brain this time. My mom says we're lucky, the caught it before it got too advanced. But she also told me we needed a miracle.
A miracle? Miracles are possible, I know that, but they seem so impossible in my life, my situation. There's nothing I want more than to see my daddy healed from his cancer, and I'll keep praying until it happens. What if it doesn't, though? Everyone has to have a back up plan. It's not like they just sell those at Walmart. It's not easy to find a back up plan for cancer.
I guess that's where chemotherapy comes in. It makes you feel horrible for a month or two, but it makes the cancer go away. There's never any guarantee, though. A lot of the time, it comes back. And there's nothing you can do as you watch it wreak it's havoc on the human body.
Death has never felt this close to me before. Of course, I knew it existed, but it was never a part of my world. That's changed now. For all I know, this time next year I could be fatherless. That's a lot to handle when you're only 13. Just the thought makes me want to start crying. I can't imagine life without my dad.
I think this whole ordeal makes my mom mad. Our family has had more than it's fair share of medical issues. It makes me angry too, sometimes. I don't want to be wishing bad things on other people, but why couldn't someone else be the one to get cancer, someone with a family who hasn't had to deal with this constant onslaught of different diseases or conditions. It seems life can deal you a pretty bad hand sometimes.
Hopefully he'll be okay, we'll get our miracle, and life will go on. But I don't think anything will ever be the same.
