I think that there are always moments in our lives that are dark moments and we do as much as possible to set them aside. We don’t forget about them, we just put them in a special place. I can remember being at the bedside of both of my parents, holding their hand when they died. They each died at the age of 57. I also remember numerous days and nights worrying about Nick and what our lives would be like without Nick and why this was happening to us. This was a very dark time in our lives.
Real Life Cancer Story
When your kid has cancer, people treat you differently. I remember having conversations with people where I would tell them about Nick and then ask them about how they were doing and they would just say: “great”. After all, how could they possibly tell me about their kid staying home from school with a cold? I remember standing next to Nick’s 4th grade teacher and a little girl coming up to her to show her a cut on her finger that was bleeding. For this little girl, a painful bleeding finger was a very dark place. And at that moment that is the only thing she knew.
For me, the gift of darkness is about perspective. You have to believe that there is some light in the darkness and that in the middle of all the pain and heartache, things could be worse. There are children and families whose journeys have been ten times as hard as ours. There are children and families that have never seen the inside of a hospital. In the midst of all the suffering, you have to find the light if you want to survive.