Dear Thriver Moms,

Our son, my only child, turns 6 this Saturday. I wish I could say the last 6 years have been easy, but they have been the hardest 6 years of my life. Not because of the beautiful blessing in having a son, but the unfortunate situation in having to manage cancer treatment, surgery, and other treatment side effects, which prevented us from conceiving another child; while raising our son.

There’s no doubt that cancer has stripped us of time. Time that could’ve been spent with our children vs. chemo, radiation or surgical recovery.

Cancer has taken far too much. It has taken far too much from all of us. And I’m incredibly angry and hurt about that, especially after being diagnosed with incurable brain cancer at the end of 2020. And many Thriver mom‘s fight for years and years and years.

But I would be remiss to not acknowledge the tremendous amount of courage, strength, love, and endurance, despite all our shitty circumstances, that we have garnered, along with help from our spouses & family/friends, to ensure our children grow up in a loving and supportive environment, regardless of challenging setbacks and a lot of heartache.

We are so much more than our scans, tumor markers, medications, treatment plans. Cancer does not define us. It does not define our roles as moms, wives, daughters, sisters. It certainly makes daily life harder, but we persevere and strive to be the best moms we can in lieu of our heavy obstacles.

I know as a Thriver mom there’s guilt or shame, frustration or sadness, thinking that we’re not doing enough, not helping enough, not being present enough. Let’s remind ourselves that a little goes a long way. Let’s remind ourselves that love, support, admiration, physical connection, making small moments and memories, go a long way, longer than we imagine. Even when we feel physically and emotionally exhausted from fighting cancer. So let’s try to not forget those moments; reading stories, playing Lego’s or cars/trucks, crafting, painting, snuggling, singing songs at bedtime, being silly, watching fun movies, eating tasty desserts, holding hands, playing at a park, riding bicycles. These memories are forming now. They will last a lifetime.

Happy 6th birthday my beautiful boy. I love you more than anything in this world. You are my greatest accomplishment. I love being your mom. 🥰 👦🏻