Hope Love Faith

Hope Love Faith

Becky

My mother, Kathe was diagnosed with Stage 4 Glioblastoma Multiforme tumor in 2010 and sadly lost her battle on March 31, 2012. Her diagnosis was a huge surprise to all of us since there were no symptoms except on a June day, she reached for her glass and missed it after a couple of tries. My mom and I were the best friends; we were shopping buddies, went out to lunch frequently and did mother daughter things.

Watching my mother slowly die from brain cancer just broke my heart, especially when I had to say my final goodbye-I Loved her very much. The only thing really helped me through the difficult time was my Faith in God. Seeing my mom act a complete stranger (the tumor started to invade in the emotion area of the brain) was heart wrenching; she would go into anger fits and pick fights with everyone close to her, including me. There were times where I told God, “I just want to throw in the towel-I’m done.” and He would send a reminder He is there and helping me through it. And He was there when He took my mother His home. Now I have the Hope that I will see my mom again some day, and that takes some of the pain away.

A year after my mom died, I started to realize that everywhere I saw, I saw pink and I thought to myself, “Would it be nice to see gray everywhere and on the NFL football players?” Thats when I decided to run the Race for Hope DC in 2014 to raise more awareness of brain cancer. I formed a small team and began my personal awareness campaign. In May, my family (they walked) and I ran the race and when I crossed the finish line, my emotions went wild and happy tears came. Having a loved one with brain cancer, not only affect them, it affects the loved ones around them.

Opinions expressed within this story belong solely to the author and do not reflect the views or opinions of the National Brain Tumor Society.