Megz - 13 years old

The day of my mum's last radiotherapy was one of the happiest days of my life.

When my mum was diagnosed with breast cancer, I was devastated. I couldn't believe it was happening to her, to us. My whole world felt like it was caving in and I didn't do anything to stop it. I kept the letter that she had got saying she had cancer under my pillow for months to try and convince myself that it was real, not just a dream. I was so unhappy, but I didn't really talk to anyone about it, I just kept all my feelings to myself.

When my mum was going through her treatment, I felt so proud of her for what she did everyday. I hated seeing her ill, and I felt guilty that it was happening to her, but she never gave up. She kept fighting, and I wish I could have done more for her. She was so amazing, and I never really gave her full credit for that. At the same time as my mum was ill, I was having problems with friends at shcool, which made coping harder, because I had to go through everything alone, and I was so sick of everyone feeling sorry for me, all so full of sympathy, but they didn't know what it was like.

The day of my mum's last radiotherapy (she had an operation to remove the lump, 3 months of chemo, and nearly 3 months of travelling for an hour every day to have radiotherapy) was one of the happiest days of my life. She had fought through, and now it was all over. I look back at it now in a positive way. It wasn't very nice at the time, but it was an experience, something I'll never forget that changed my life. It made me put things into perspective. Now I can look back at my mum's battle with cancer - and see her winning.

Page updated 18 July 2012