Thursday, July 26, 2007

I'm Afraid of the "C" Word

I'm truly fear the "C" word don't you? CANCER. A woman in my moms group just passed away after a 4 year battle with breast cancer and it's truly made me think a lot about how precious life is. You really just never know what is going to happen and how devasting it is to the family that gets left behind.

Our group has been exchanging crazy amounts of emails regarding her. Some people are interested in making her surviving family our "charity" for the year. I'm kind of hesitant about giving money to the family even though I know the treatments and funeral arrangements must have been costly. I would much rather give money to fund Breast Cancer Research in memoriam of her or find a way to give it directly to the children.

Money just doesn't seem appropriate to me because no amount of money would bring the parent back and in no way compensates for that sense of loss. The Breadwinner's Aunt died at the age of 29 from Hodgkins Lymphoma and left behind a toddler and a baby. His Aunt's husband remarried within a year of her death. He wound up remarrying several times and I think the children were really affected by all the mother figure changes. This is why I would want to do something that would directly benefit the children. Death has profound effects on children and it shapes the rest of their lives (not to take away from the pain an adult feels-- but children can't grasp a lot of "adult" concepts).

What are your thoughts? What do you think would be the best way to help a family through this period of time?

I actually would like to participate in Passionately Pink For the Cure. Has anyone participated in this at all? Do you have any other ideas to support Breast Cancer awareness/research?

2 comments:

Stacey said...

Oh how sad! I sometimes get very afraid too in light of the fact that my mom has breast cancer. I can't help but wonder if I too will get it. Of course one never knows and I just can't live my life in fear like that.

I do like the idea of doing something for the surviving children. Perhaps money towards a scholarship for college/their futures.
And money to fund research is ALWAYS a good idea. I'm hopeful that one day we'll find what causes this horrible disease and stop it in its tracks!

Brillig said...

I have two sisters with cancer and it's terrifying stuff. Both are still very young, and one has young children.

I don't know what the best use of your time/money/efforts is, honestly. It's so hard to know how to help. But I love the idea of doing something for the children. Their loss is huge. Oh, I can't even imagine. I'm interested to know what you come up with.