Her name was Sylvia. She was funny, loud, energetic, always had some joke to crack. She had more friends that became her family after so many years together. She was diagnosed with breast cancer when I was 17, stage 4 aggressive cancer, she was then on chemotherapy and radiation within a blink of an eye. She lost weight then gained weight with all the medication she was on, they had to take her breast and she lost all her hair, her cancer then spread to her brain, and she started having seizures that ended up paralyzingly part of her body, she could no longer walk, or work or do any of the normal things we do in our daily routines, something so simple as brushing her teeth became the most difficult thing to do. My mother was a lot of things to everyone, to me, she was my rock. My person, my mom and my best friend, she endured it all and even when she left us, she left fighting. Everyday it's a little easier, I am more aware of the many women who go through so much, and the families that feel the pain. They are so strong, like my mom. my mother died within 2 years of being diagnosed, and even at her weakest, she never lost hope.

elizabeth villa
San Antonio, TX