As we near the end of Respect Life month, this story jumps out as especially timely:
My son is not a hugger. He’s almost 2 years old, and I can count on one hand the times he’s squeezed his chubby arms around my neck (they all involve my husband running the vacuum). I’m okay with this because on the rare occasion when I do get a hug, I get very emotional. I imagine most moms experience these my-heart-might-burst moments when a seconds-long embrace makes them feel like the luckiest person in the world. But for me, it’s a little different. A little sweeter. And I am a lot luckier.
See, I wasn’t supposed to have a baby. I’m a cancer patient. Seven years ago I was diagnosed with chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML), a slow-moving form of blood cancer. I’m in remission, thanks to a medication I take every day that states right smack on the bottle: Do not get pregnant while taking this drug. But I did. Then I stopped my lifesaving medication and endured nine long months of what-ifs: What if the brief exposure to the drug affects the baby? What if my cancer comes back? What if I leave my child motherless? I took a big risk, but it paid off even bigger. Now I want to do it again.
You’ll want to read the rest…
posted October 30, 2009 at 3:20 pm
I wonder when someone will come into the comments section to say they doubt that these are real people.
posted October 30, 2009 at 5:27 pm
I’d like to put a plug in for medical centers that treat pregnant women with cancer. A friend was diagnosed with ovarian cancer while pregnant with her second child. She was treated at such a center which had as its goal to safeguard both the mother’s life and the baby’s. That child is now in elementary school, she is cancer free AND has a third child. Instead of two motherless children, there are three well-loved and mothered children.
I find the occasional emphasis on the “she gave up her life for the baby” understandable – but when it is not tempered with the hope that such specialized treatment can provide, to be troubling. It is absolutely right that the baby’s life not be exchanged for the mothers, but for the mother of small children to fail to seek such care as is available and morally acceptable is wrong. And we are somewhat complicit in that poor moral choice when we exalt those who do just that.
This story is an example of a well considered choice for life – thanks!