I knew I had cancer even before I was told by the doctor. My body could tell, and I had watched my mother pass away from it just a few short years before. My husband was at war overseas, so it was my teenage girls and I. I was devestated, because the word cancer=death. The girls and I talked about it, and they had helped care for my mother as well. They had a plan. They said ,"Mom, you always say you will never break a promise to us. You need to promise that you will live. You will survive this. We need you. Please say it" I was terrified, but I did. Starting chemo was the scariest thing I have ever done, and the surgery afterwards was no party either.

In retrospect, as strange as it sounds, cancer was the greatest growing experience of my life. Don't misunderstand, I NEVER want to do it again, but how else would I see my daughters show me that they had learned so fully things such as strength and compassion. My community came together to give us aid, I made friends that will be friends and sisters for the rest of my life, and I get to participate in a study that may keep my sisters and daughters from ever getting this terrible disease. What's a little fatigue and hair loss compared to that? :)

To this day, I am the mom that can say that my kids saved my life. Chemo, surgery, and the rest boosted the promise I was sworn to, but in the end- they are responsible, and I will never forget it.