Dani - 13 years old

All of these things I did to deal with my mum's cancer helped me in some way and i hope that it can help anyone who reads this story.

When I found out that my mum had breat cancer, I was in total denial. I was like no way has my mum got cancer, this happens to people of 30 not 13! After I'd got over my stage of denial I found it really hard to deal with. I even tried therapy. I was still quite depressed after this, it seemed like my whole life was falling apart. My mum had to have chemotherapy and I was really worried because i knew nothing about it, so my mum asked me if I'd like to go to her first chemo with her and I did. This helped me deal with her cancer. It made me feel more in control of the situation and really made me feel more confident she was going to get through it. After her chemo I saw another part of my mum I'd never seen before. She was moody all the time and was really snappy with me. So i got really upset again about it, even though I knew she couldn't help it. Then one time after her chemo she couldn't get out of bed because she was so ill. I hated seeing her like it. In my whole life I'd never seen my mum stay in bed all day, she was never ill and she was never one of those people who liked to lie in in the mornings. I told her that I was really scared. I talked to her about my feelings which i found really hard to do but I did it anyway. To my surprise she understood me. She wasn't just dismissing my feelings like I thought she might. She made me understand that she wasn't going to be the same but she was going to get better. She gave me more confidence because she was so determined that she was going to beat this cancer. All of these things I did to deal with my mum's cancer helped me in some way and i hope that it can help anyone who reads this story. My mum is having her operation soon and I'll admit that I'm still really scared, but somewhere in the back of my mind I can remember my mum telling me that shes going to be alright. You just need to have that same confidence in yourself.

Page updated 18 July 2012