Cancer & TPT

Mandy from Cooperative Learning 365 is having a linky party to raise cancer awareness.  She is having the linky party because she was just diagnosed with tounge cancer and is determined to beat the odds.  This post is in support of her fight.

 

I understand the fight with cancer.  My mom fought that fight.  It was a short fight.  We only found out she had cancer one month before she died.  But during that month, she fought harder than I ever saw her fight.  You see, she wanted more than anything to stick around and watch my sons grow up.  My oldest son was her light and joy.  Not that she didn’t love Zaiyd, but Kal and my mom had a special connection, one that sometimes even made me feel jealous.  One month after my mom was diagnosed with Small Cell Lung Cancer, she died, and I miss her every day.

 

When I saw Mandy’s linky party, I knew right away that I would link up.  However, I debated which blog to link (I have a personal one:  http://moroccoraki.wordpress.com and a teaching one.)  I decided to post it here for two reasons: 1.  More people read this blog, and so more people will become aware this way.  2.  My mom is the reason for me joining TPT and thereby the teaching blog community. 

 

I found TPT when mom was sick.  I took a leave of absence from work, determined to fight the good fight with my mom.  Neither of us had any idea how short the fight would be.  While I was out of work, I knew I would need some supplemental income, so I started doing a web search for places to sell lesson plans and stumbled on TPT.  I put up 3 items before mom’s condition got drastically worse.  I immediately forgot about TPT and didn’t give it another thought until 2 months after the funeral, when I got that little e-mail saying I had sold something on TPT.  I think I made 30 cents on that sale.  But it was also like a little sign from my mom that this was something to pursue, and so I did.  I now have 317  items on TPT, and I’d like to think mom would be proud of me.

 

I miss my mom every day.  I hate that because of cancer she will never meet my youngest son.  I hate that because of cancer she will never come to visit me in Morocco.  I hate that because of cancer, I will not have her with me on Wednesday for my birthday.  I hate that because of cancer I can’t call her up just to say hi.  I hate that I lost her to cancer, but I am glad to post this to raise awareness for cancer.  My oldest son wants to be a scientist one day.  Maybe if we keep raising awareness, he will have the resources to study and find a cure some day.