A Love Letter to Cancer
Dear cancer,
Why do you always do this? Just when life is going well for someone, you show up and ruin everything. My whole family felt your weight on our shoulders for too long. You shook our world when you took my Grandad in September of ‘99, but I won’t let you continue to break our strength. As I get older I think back to our time together. Even though I try to not let emotions get the best of me, I still seem to get overwhelmed.
You took away a portion of my childhood that I will never get back. Not only did you confine my two year old self to that tiny white hospital bed like a prisoner, you trapped my Mom there, too. While she tried to fall asleep on that recliner next to my bed, tears streamed down her face because she knew she could not physically fix anything. She was all alone. My Dad was 2 hours away at home with my two older sisters. When he was not at work supporting our family, he was being a parent to two other daughters who simply wished the family could just be together again at home.
Do you remember my sisters, Meredith and Olivia? They remember you, that’s for sure. At just four and six years old, they realized what you were doing to me. When my parents took me to the doctor’s office, my sisters were sent to my Grandparents’ house. “We were playing cards on Grandma’s living room floor when Mom and Dad called to tell us you had cancer”, Olivia said. It wasn’t until that phone call that they realized their little sister was looking death directly in the eye.
I still do not quite understand why you do what you do. I have one last thing I want to say to you. Even though I will never forgive you for the pain and hardships you caused my family members, I want to personally thank you on my behalf. You probably were not expecting that, but allow me to explain.
I want to thank you for teaching me that I have the power to make a difference. Now that I am 20 years old, I have been free from your death grip for 18 years. As a cancer survivor, I speak at a wide variety of events to instill strength in families that are hitting rock bottom, similar to what my family experienced with you. As a Marquette student, I found where I can use my experience to make an impact on campus. Dance Marathon is an organization that works to raise money used to help patients and families at Children’s Hospitals. The money we raise helps beat pediatric illness such as you, cancer.
I am glad my letter finally got to you. I have been meaning to reach out to you recently, but have been too busy being healthy, happy, and successful to get around to it. My family, the University of Iowa Children’s Hospital, and I would like to say it one more time. Cancer, we won!
Sincerely,
Your worst nightmare, Abigail Wesley
