2023 was a truly disastrous year for our family in terms of cancer, which is why this year I am reflecting on World Cancer Day 2024.
A good start
2023 started off great, with no fewer than three holidays in the first week. New Year’s Eve a weekend away with the family, three days at Preston Palace with the entire in-laws due to my parents-in-law’s 40th wedding anniversary and finally a long weekend with my mother to Aachen, Germany.
March 2023
And then… disaster struck. So terribly hard and unexpected. My mother (62) occasionally had stomach aches and because she was lactose intolerant and had been on holiday several times in a row, so she had been eating in a restaurant, she thought it was because of that. So she unsuspectingly went to the doctor on March 31, had a scan in the hospital and then… belly full of tumors. They immediately said: “months, not years”. And that was true, she didn’t make it to six months.
July
Nice tour in Denmark with a camper, so that we could easily get home if necessary. And that was necessary, because my father saw flashes. After a scan of his head it turned out that he had a brain tumor. So I immediately had a whole body scan and it turned out there was also a lung tumor. The lung tumor was the main tumor and the brain tumor was the metastasis. The brain tumor was soon surgically removed, but it turned out to have spread further into the brain. Had radiotherapy for this, later immunotherapy and have since given up. He still has a few months left.
Augustus
Stepfather peed blood and after a scan it turned out to be bladder cancer. This was surgically removed 3 days after my mother died. So he was still a bit lame during the condolence. Later it turned out to be an aggressive species and it turned out to have already spread to his bones. So we are in the middle of chemo. He has been given a maximum of 12 months if the chemo works.
Reflection
So I have no choice but to reflect on World Cancer Day 2024, because cancer suddenly has so much impact on my/our life. Lost my dearest mother 4.5 months ago. Never run together again. I miss her so much. And now I see my father declining, so sad. And also knowing that with my stepfather it is just stretching. At the end of next year I lost all my parents to cancer. Bizarre thought. Hopefully we never have to deal with it again after that. ?