In primary school I had heard of this horrible thing called cancer, it scared me and I realise now that it was selfish of me to have been more worried about myself than others. One day in 2018, mum and I were in the car. We were driving home when she told me she had been diagnosed with cancer, it wasn't long until it all sank in. I'd seen the flowers and cards that she had received and the time when she'd come home in tears and wouldn't tell me why. I knew that mum was already dealing with the idea of it but when she started getting treatment, so many things changed. I was sad knowing that she was feeling sick and tired and cancer had taken so much away from her. Some nights she would be too tired to come and have dinner with us, something we've always done, sat together as a family and talked about our days. She is a brave person and continued doing what she loved as much as she could. Even coming to referee my tee ball teams matches for inter school sports days and helping and being there for others through her nursing and massage work as well as just in general.

So many people have or are going through cancer and I can't say I know what it's like but I do have a better understanding of its impacts on lives and to those effected I want to give hope.