Four days ago, I received a text from a colleague that a fellow colleague’s dad had just passed away. Three days ago, I attended the funeral. I learnt that he had been diagnosed with cancer two years ago, and had actually been cleared of it when complications started arising recently. I started fretting over it.

October 2008, my mother was diagnosed with stage 2 breast cancer. Everything happened so fast after that. She underwent surgery in November and started chemo early 2009. It was a tough period for the family, especially my dad. He lost a lot of weight. I was praying so hard throughout the entire time, and right now, mum’s doing fine. She’s still going back to the hospital every now and then to have injections for her immune system, but she’s gone back to her normal lifestyle and I cannot be more thankful.

We were in and out of the hospital a lot, because just before all this happened, my grandmother had a bad fall, and dislocated her hip. She underwent a successful surgery. Mum then had her surgery while gran was recuperating. I’ve never been happier to stop having visits to the hospital.

While this recent situation has daunted me, I can only continue praying for her wellbeing and trust that God will keep her healthy. It has also made me realise how thankful I actually am for the parentals. I haven’t actually been a model daughter, so this year, I’m going to try and change that. Family is something that can’t be replaced, so please don’t take yours for granted. :)