It is hard to believe that it has been 10 years since my daughter, Molly, was diagnosed with cancer. Molly was diagnosed with metastatic osteosarcoma when she was 8 years old. During the initial family meeting, Molly’s oncologist told my husband and I that Molly had a very poor prognosis and her chance of survival was less than 10%. We were devastated.
I was a pediatric oncology nurse at that time and all I could picture was all the children I had prayed so fervently for a miracle and then watched leave this earth and their parents who loved them so much. I always tried to surrender to God’s will in my life but I remember standing in the shower sobbing because I couldn’t imagine losing our beautiful daughter. I finally said the prayer, ‘God, you gave me this beautiful daughter and I am putting her in the palm of your hand. I trust you.’ After saying that prayer, a huge wave of peace came over me. Now I am human, and that peace came and went over the next several years as I had to continually put my trust in God again and again. Molly faced many hurdles and obstacles, including 12 surgeries and lifetime side effects from chemotherapy but I am happy to report that Molly is a thriving sophomore in college.
One of my answers to prayers was David’s Dream & Believe Cancer Foundation. One thing I did not mention above was that my husband and I have eight children. When Molly was diagnosed at age 8, she had 5 younger siblings, who were ages 6, 5, 3, 22 months and 3 months so needless to say we were busy and overwhelmed. We also depended on both my income and my husband’s income to pay our normal bills. We didn’t have anything to spare and the bills were building.
One of my close friends, Meigan Kelly, shared with me that her friend Dave had also been diagnosed with Stage IV cancer and that he had been reading about Molly’s journey and it was helping him to persevere since Molly was a child and also had to face so much. She mentioned that Dave was trying to start a foundation and that he wanted our family to be the first family to receive assistance. At that time, Molly was in need of a special therapy that wasn’t covered by insurance and I didn’t know how we were going to manage it. DDBCF was an answer to our prayers. The grant covered the treatment Molly needed and helped us not to have a huge financial burden. I am so grateful to DDBCF for not only helping our family but so many others that have been faced with cancer.
No one wants a loved one to face cancer or any illness. It was so hard to watch Molly suffer and go through side effects and pain. Yet through it all, I felt that God was constantly surrounding Molly and our family with loving and generous people. Dave was one of those miraculous people that God sent to us and we will never forget his love and help for our family.
