Pg 1

    We knew there was something wrong in July of 2002, when my mother who was way beyond menopause had her period and her tummy was swollen to look like she was three months pregnant. She went to the Doctor and all of our worst fears came true. It was Cancer and it was in her ovaries. The news came as a shocking blow, like we had just been hit by a speeding truck ... this only happens to other people but no ... it was happening to us and this is where my mothers "year of hell" began.
   About two weeks after getting the news she had an appointment to get rid of everything that made her a woman ... what we didn't know was that tumour had already grown large enough to attach itself to her bowel. The Cancer had already spread to other parts of her body. The operation went as planned or so we thought. After the operation we went to see her and she was in very good spirits. She didn't even complain of pain but that was my mother; anyway you never could tell if she was hurt or not.
   A little while later she was able to go home. I will never forget the tone in her voice when she went home, she was like a little girl in a candy store , so excited to be there ... then the Chemo started. It was six months of once a month treatments. The Chemo treatments were three hours south of where I lived so once a month my father would drive her down.
   My father, now there was a man of every woman's dream. He is the type of man who would bend over backwards for you and not ask questions. My mother was so lucky to have him. My mother was receiving the strongest Chemo you could get because she had the fast action Cancer. I remember during those six months she was tired and sick from the Chemo ... some days she would just feel tired and other days she could barely get up in the morning but the doctors said if she didn't have the Chemo she would not be with us today.