Personal Narrative: My Mother's Struggle With Cancer

When I was younger, I remember feeling as though I lived in a bubble; my life was perfect. I had an extremely caring and compassionate mother, two older siblings to look out for me, a loving grandmother who would bake never ending sweets and more toys than any child could ever realistically play with. But as I grew up my world started to change. My sister developed asthma, my mother became sick with cancer and at the age of five, my disabled brother developed ear tumors and became deaf. As more and more problems were piled upon my single mother’s plate, I, the sweet, quiet, perfectly healthy child, was placed on the back burner. It was not as though my family did not love me; it was just that I was simply, not a priority.

I was born in Walnut Creek, California on a hot summer afternoon in the year of 1996. When I was only a few weeks old, my mother left my father for good

and moved from their shared home in Discovery Bay, to a quiet neighborhood in Pleasanton, where she, my two siblings, our three cats and I shared a small, simple home. Growing up and always being the healthy one I was never really in need of health care. However, my sister and brother always needed a lot of medical attention so I spent much of my time at my grandmother’s house that lived a few towns away in Castro Valley. It is not my mother’s fault my siblings required so much care, but as a result I acknowledge that my grandmother truly contributed so much to my upbringing.

I am mixed race: with my father being black and my mother being white, the astronomical differences between the two of them, goes further than just being skin deep, which caused problems for their relationship down the road. My father who being six foot five came from a broken family in Shreveport, Louisiana and has strong beliefs when it comes to traditions. My mother on the other hand, was born in the suburbs of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to a polish mother and stubborn Italian father, being only five feet tall, and having firm family ties. Although they are very different, illness is still a common occurrence in both of their families. It has been common on my father’s side of my family to develop Alzheimer’s and dementia. On my mother’s side, we are very prone to cancers of all sorts, with not only my grandfather who died from lung cancer, but all of his siblings dying from some sort of cancer as well.

As stated earlier in my story I was very close to my grandmother. She was an all around incredible woman. She had to quit school at age fourteen to help her family take care of their farm in Minnesota and look after her younger siblings and at age eighteen went out into the unknown alone in order to create a better life for herself and her future family. Around the end of my freshman year, my grandmother became extremely sick and even though my mother had already lost her father nearly two decades earlier, this was completely different since she was incredibly close with her mother. The loss of my grandmother was devastating. She had always been there to love, support and protect me, always putting others needs before herself to ensure those around her were taken care of. Although four years have gone by since she passed away, it will always feel as if a small part of my identity is somehow missing.

When doing my research paper in a few weeks I do think I will be able to use part of my Herstory.

I think I may want to learn and expand more of topics of illness and disabilities as both have not only been a part of my life, but of all my family members lives as well. Cancer especially is a great worry for my siblings and myself, as it has been such a prevalent issue for us, even since we were little and my mother was diagnosed with breast cancer. Even though he was able to be cured and is alive and well today, it is still an extremely real and serious issue we may have to deal with ourselves in the future.

Throughout the entirety of my life I always have and always will face obstacles: I am a girl, I am African-American, I have a disabled brother, I have a single parent. Though these aspects of my life have created challenges, I am proud of who I am and I love my life. These challenges have molded my character and shaped me to be the person I am today and without these obstacles, I might not have been as driven to succeed, despite what has happened in my life that may have caused me to

fail.