To err is human and sometimes your body makes mistakes. My mother was diagnosed with late stage stomach cancer, terminal and unforgiving. Mom, my beautiful mom. We took her from doctor to doctor to doctor and to hospitals and to clinics. Desperate with heavy hearts as if our chests could collapse. Helpless with swelling tears swimming through notices of denial of payments and medical coverage. All the while, my once healthy, happy mother withered to a fragile frame with her skin sinking between the crevices of her bones. She was physically flashing back to her childhood in third world countries, emaciated and yielding.
    After months of waiting at hospital bedsides for her raging fevers to chill and for her end to end surgical cuts to heal, she was finally cleared for this "medicine", this chemotherapy. We kept hearing how much better this treatment was now than in the past. Yet during treatments I lay nights with her being too weak to move. I spent hours watching her vomit all sorts of shades into a cold toilet bowl. I watched her suffocating in writhing pain, hearing her beg through her tears, "When is it ever going to end?" And I sit here just helpless because I know she can't be cured.
    This is cancer. Your body makes mistakes. To err is human but this disease won't forgive. Yet if there's one thing that you can control, it's your heart. Your spirit and your soul can soar miles and miles of stars in the opposite direction of mistake. I have faith in the potential of humanity to do good. Countless times I have been touched and fascinated by what we can build and not what we can destroy. Everyday my mom fights to live. My beautiful mom still breathing with some of her hair too resistant to fall from her head. And everyday she is here is a gift. Your body makes mistakes, but your heart does not have to. So I give.
    Below is an optional link that will direct you to the American Cancer Society donation page for cancer research. However, I encourage you to donate to whatever good cause you like. Habitat for Humanity, the American Red Cross, UNICEF, or your community are just a few I can name. You have the ability to love. The ability to give. Let's see how far our hearts can take us.




With love,
Arlene
BeautyQA™