when survivors leave home

mamaish
mamaish Member Posts: 1
edited March 2014 in Childhood Cancers #1
i am new to this list, but not new to childhood cancers. My daughter was diagnosed in 1992 with ALL when she was 21 months old. What a struggle is was, suffereing from a near deadly fungal infection for a very long time. There are some lasting effects, but hey she is here!! Well she is getting ready to graduate from high school and leave to the mainland. (we are in hawaii) I am going through what all parents of seniors are but it is compounded by my fears and anxieties of her getting sick or needed medical care etc. I am driving her nuts, and I find I am crying alot. It was just her and I during her illness and I am so afraid to let her go....any suggestions from other parents who have had their survivors move on, please let me know.thank you!!

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  • survivor51
    survivor51 Member Posts: 276
    Hey,
    I am battling cancer and visit this board because I have worked with children for 30 years in education. My son did not have cancer but in 1996, was at scout camp and I was monitoring another part of camp. I heard them call for an ambulance and I thought "oh no, some kid broke something like an arm." I saw a group of adults heading toward me and I wondered "well, it must be one of my sons"(I have two a year apart.) My youngest was in the first aid tent working on a merit badge when a volunteer doctor, thank God, asked for a volunteer. Needless to say my son went right up. The doctor looked at him and asked if he was feeling well, my son said no and started to turn around, the doctor thought he was going to throw up and then realized, he collasped and his heart had stopped. I am so thankful that a real doctor was with him. Thankfully his heart did start back but he had no pulse or heart beat. Another doctor that I knew from high school was there volunteering and the two of us went to the hospital with the ambulance. He was check and we were told to go to Scottish Rite in Atlanta. They went into his heart and he has a condition that you hear basketball and football players dieing on the court. There is no surgery or pill that can be taken. I worried for the longest time and realized that for both those doctors to be there I knew God had a plan. I wanted my son to enjoy life and play like all little boys. He played baseball, soccer, basketball, (I did not allow football). He graduated from HS and wanted to leave the state to go to college. I did go through withdrawals but I have to have faith in God and my son. I am thrilled to say he graduates from college in less than 2 months and is a fantastic young man....just the way I raised him...Go figure. We live in Georgia and he talked about moving on the other side of the states to work....I have to allow him to grow and be the young man I know he can and will be. Is it heart breaking seeing your child leave...the one you protected, worried about, had sleepless nights,,, absolutely but as good moms, we need to allow them to use the tools we have given them and trust them. Sometimes I think if I could just bubble wrap him, I would...but then what do I have....an over protected child and not an adult. I see you posted in January and I hope you get this.