Bravery

My son is often defined as a boy with great strength and bravery.   My son has recently lost his hair, which is the everyday reminder of this painful journey.  When my son had hair it helped me to block the thoughts and images that this journey brings to our family.  However, his hair is now gone, which I will be reminded every time I look at my precious son of what cancer has done to my family. 

Bravery is defined as “having or displaying courage, resolution, or daring; not cowardly or timid,” and so it this definition that describes the essence of my son’s response to cancer.  He may not understand the depth of what cancer is or can cause, but he has chosen to respond in a way that is beyond his own understanding.  My son undertakes this journey with grace, strength and perseverance.  My son does not scream, my son does not shake, my son does not hide, my son just looks at me and grips my hands and says, “mommy, I am scared, but I know this will be done soon.”  He faces this pain with the only word that summarizes all that he has had to become-brave.  It is not the fact that he has cancer that makes my son brave.  It is his innate nature of how he responds to this terrible adversity.  He is admirable at a very young age, and he is my greatest hero.  I may experience this pain as a mom, which is a pain unlike any pain in this world.  However, when I look at my son he reminds me that as a family united we can conquer this journey together.  He has such beauty that I feel blessed to be his mom.  He is my son, and I hope he comes to know one day that he is growing to be like Jesus at such an early age.  I want to end with a poem that I have placed on our shirts for the Relay for Life as it is a good reminder for myself and to all those that read my blog.

What Cancer Can’t Do

Cancer is so limited...

It cannot cripple love. 

It cannot shatter hope. 

It cannot corrode faith. 

It cannot eat away peace.

It cannot destroy confidence. 

It cannot kill friendship.

It cannot shut out memories. 

It cannot silence courage. 

It cannot invade the soul. 

It cannot reduce eternal life.

It cannot quench the spirit. 

It cannot lesson the power of the resurrection

CANCER IS JUST A WORD….NOT A SENTENCE.

Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them, for it is the Lord your God who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you.”         Deuteronomy 31:6