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The screams I heard still echo through my head from the pain mom suffered until her dying day.
In 1976 mom was diagnosed with breast cancer, we had no idea how bad it was until the day of her surgery.

Setting in the surgical waiting area our family waited for any word from the doctors, it seemed like it took forever, then the doctor came out with news of moms condition.

I feared the worst and my heart sank as the doctor explained they had done a radical mastectomy, removing her breast and lymph nodes, stage three cancer had already metastasized to the rest of her body.

She started a regimen of chemotherapy, which she never followed through with completely, it seemed to work against her more than help.
For a while mom seemed to be doing good, then in March of 1978 she had gotten very ill.
I guess our whole family was fooling ourselves into thinking mom was going to be OK.
Mom was brought into the emergency room at the hospital I worked at,she was having breathing difficulties.

The doctors ordered a battery of test, on her x-rays they discovered a spot on her lung thinking it might be from her previous breast surgery or pneumonia.
Mom was admitted to the hospital for further evaluation, her personal physician knew her case very well and did a bone marrow biopsy.

The test came back positive for cancer, she was given six months to live.
I took care of mom from the time she was diagnosed with breast cancer until her death in October 1978, she would not allow anyone to touch her except me, she feared everyone else would hurt her, she said they did not have that gentle touch, and she was racked with pain.
Day after day I watched as mom got worse, knowing there was nothing I could do for her except keep her as comfortable as possible.

The night before her death I visited mom in the hospital one last time she was feeling pretty good but could not walk she said, the doctors said the cancer had eaten her spine.
I kissed mom goodbye and went home.

At seven am the next morning a knock came at my door, it was my mother in law, being half asleep and half awake, reality finally set in, something was wrong, finally I ask what is
wrong, my mother in law was finding it very hard to tell me my mother had passed away.

I threw my clothes on and headed over to my dads house, when I arrived my oldest brother was standing in the living room, I screamed and cried and my brother grabbed me and tried to comfort me.
There was so much more I wanted to do for mom, but it was too late.

My youngest brother who was thirteen at the time had went to school that morning not knowing that his mother had died, I informed the school and told them not to tell him let him finish out the day of school.
When he arrived home from school everyone was at the house, my brother knew immediately, something was wrong.
He looked into moms bedroom and saw all of her things from the hospital, my oldest brother took him outside to break the news to him.

I watched out the window as my baby brother learned of moms death, he fell across the top of the car sobbing, tears rolled down my face as I watched my poor brother fall apart.

Funeral arrangements were made and mom was laid to rest. I never thought I would ever have to care for anyone that was terminally ill, but was happy to know I was there when mom needed me.

The pain the patient and family go through with a terminal illness is unbearable. I hope that one day science will find a cure for cancer, and I have faith that they will.

Learn more about this author, Brenda Line.
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