Selena - 16 years old

The pill is able to slow down the cancer cells from spreading. It won't kill the cells, but it will buy us time.

My Mum was diagnosed with lung cancer right after her 40th birthday party, this summer.

At the time the whole family, including myself and the doctors, had thought my Mum had a lung infection. She was constantly coughing and had trouble breathing. None of the pills worked on her, though.

I was waiting outside classroom with my class peers for the teacher when I was told to leave school immediately to go home and talk with my Mother. They wouldn't tell me more.

When I got home, the whole family was in our house, and a dinner was being cooked. Once we finally sat around the dinner table, the news was broken to me. My Mum had lung cancer, and it was stage 4, and it had spread. It couldn't be operated out and so we had to try some other things. Later on, at the hospital we found out that it was terminal.

I spent that night with my Mum at the hospital, holding hands and recalling stories.

My Mum went through chemotherapy sessions, but it wasn't too harsh as she didn't lose any hair. She also went through radiotherapy, and she became very tired and weak. One night, she had a fever and thought she was going to die. She even wrote a letter to my brother and I listing all the things she loved about us, because she feared she wouldn't see us again.

When the results came out, we found out that the therapy didn't work on her the way it was supposed to.

Luckily, we also found out that a pill, which has only worked on 9 people in Denmark works on my Mother, due to her mixed blood and young age perhaps. My Mum is the 9th person. The pill is able to slow down the cancer cells from spreading. It won't kill the cells, but it will buy us time. It also doesn't have as harsh side-effects on the body, as chemo does. It has in the past worked on cancer patients up to 9 months but after a while, the body grows immune to its effects. We will have to see what to do after that.

Right now, my younger 6 year old brother and I have moved with our Uncle and his wife to Malaysia, where we originally come from, and we have begun school here. We skype my Mother every day, and the doctors have said that my Mum will probably be able to visit us in a few months. Otherwise, we will visit her during our Christmas Break.

Page updated 5 September 2013