On 12/22/2006 Sadysweet wrote:
When I was 6 years old, just a couple of days after Christmas, my dad found out he had cancer. Seen as I was 6 i didn't really understand what was happening, and thought he just wasn't feeling well or had a tummy bug. Over the next few months my dad was in and out of hospital, and I barely saw him. My older sister who was 2 years older then me didn't like going to visit him in the hospital. I think she was scared seen as she understood more. As July came, my birthday swept past and I can't even remember if my dad was there of being treated at a hospital. I had quite a happy life, but I was so confused about my dad and started to forget little parts about him. I can remember one day he had come back from hospital in August, and i didn't reconise him just because he had grown a beard because he had been in there for so long and I hadn't seen him! Soon the cancer had gone from his body and he started to get better, only did we know it was just going to get worse. It had gone back to his liver, and got cancer again. He lost weight and the same treatment came all over again. By this time I was 8. He was able to be with us on Christmas 2002, and it seemed like we were a proper family again. But he had to go back in again. I had my mum and sister while he was away. March came and his birthday was expected on the 15th. It was the 10th and Dad was so ill. By night he didn't know who I was. He was trying his best to breathe and he was sitting up staring past me. I was scared. I went to my bedroom and cried. My mum found me and I cuddled with her. I went back downstairs and stayed with dad a bit but then I had to go to bed. My mum came into my bedroom at 3:45am in the morning. My dad had died. All three of us cried. Now I'm 12 and it's nearly my fourth year of having Christmas without my Dad. I cry alot still although its been nearly 4 years but I wish I could've been with him a bit longer. Before he had a full-time job and only spent proper time with him at weekends. My friends don't understand how it is and there all lucky even if some of their parents have divorced because they still have both of them. I'm not the unluckiest person ever like those poor people in Africa but cancer kills and its my number one enemy and my dad fought hard to beat it.
I lost my husband on 12-7-06 and he was my best friend too. I know it's a difficult time of the year but reading your message, you sound like a very intelligent and courageous person. You must remember all the good times you had with your dad and as difficult as it is, you need to be strong for your mom and sister and by the sounds of it, I know you will. Yes cancer is my enemy also, it's a very bad disease that takes away our loved ones. I know your dad fought as hard as he could, just as my husband did also. I want you to know that you are not alone, even if your friends don't understand, there are people here who do and you can contact me at anytime, if you want to vent, cry or just need a shoulder to lean on. It's ok to feel the way you do, he was your dad, a friend, a hero. Always remember that.