Reflecting On My Mother's Cancer Journey

I remember when my mother called me from Peru to tell me they diagnosed her with kidney cancer. She was very ill, and she had to have an emergency surgery to get one of her kidneys removed. She came out well from the operation, but the doctor told her that her cancer was stage 4 and that she had not much time.

Around that time my son was graduating from university, and we planned to have a party for him. My mother decided not to tell us anything about the situation until after graduation. The day after graduation, my mother called me again and gave me the bad news.

I remember that in order not to make her feel worse than she already was, since she was crying, I just listened and hid my crying. I knew I had to be strong for her. I tried to calm her, telling her worry that everything will be fine, we will get out of this, trust me.

I called my brothers and sister to talk about it and we brought her to the US so we could be with her, supporting her, helping her and, above all, receiving her treatment here. When my sister called her on the phone days later, my mother was already checking to start her treatment in Peru. She even had the first appointment. But my sister said no, cancel everything because we got your plane ticket so you can come home with us. She told her we had to be with her, we cannot go to Peru, it is better that you come here with us. We thought it was the best decision because of the situation she was going through, apart from the fact that we knew that that was what she would have wanted, my mother never likes to ask us for anything, as she says she doesn't like to bother anyone.

Well we did, she arrived a few days later, everything went quick. She started her first treatment in Greenville on my birthday, July 1, 2016, I remember that day, we all went to the hospital with her, my sister with her son, my eldest son with his friend, me with my daughter, we just wanted to be with her and support her, plus we wanted to know how bad the cancer was.

All the nurses were very good to us, they treated us very well, especially Dr. Walker, her doctor. He let us all into the room together; he understood the reason we were all there. He told us she needed a lot of support, especially from the family. He was very sweet, every time we went he hugged us, he asked us how we were doing, he always remembered our name, my mother loved him, he always gave her a lot of confidence. He told her, don't worry, everything will be fine, you will not die, you look very strong; you are very positive and that counts a lot for treatment. He gave her the best treatment option, and she started her treatment two weeks later.

When we left the hospital, we were happy, and felt so much better and faithful that everything was going to be okay.

My mother follows her treatment every time she needs it because the cancer that she has comes and goes but never goes away completely.

Right now she is fine, but she has been through tough times, she is very strong, if you see her, you won't even think she is sick. She knows how to take care of herself, we always go with her to her medical appointments to closely monitor her improvement, we know she will always need our support.

My family has always been very close, but this united us much more. One of my brothers lives in another state, it's difficult for him to be here with us, but he still does, takes vacations and comes to NC to help with her appointments, sometimes just to spend time with her and us. My other brother is a teacher, for him it is also difficult to help with the situation, but during school breaks or vacations he helps us a lot by taking my mother to her treatments or appointments.

I think it is very important to support family members when they need us the most, especially with an illness so serious that it is killing many people.

My mother is healthy, positive, a faithful person, and she is leaving a peaceful life. All this helps with the situation too. She now lives permanently in NC, has her own apartment, just bought a car and she is happy. Right now we cannot visit her much because Covid-19, we want to make sure she stays safe.

it's important to support and take care of your parents, to help them when they need you most, especially to set a good example for our children. Maybe one day we will be in that situation.

My brothers and I are very close, we don't fight, there is no envy between us, we celebrate our achievements; we adore our kids and they are also very close and love each other very much.

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