Childhood Cancer Awareness Month

We have been celebrating all month at work and although we have silly dress up days and it sometimes seems more about not having to wear scrubs and getting to wear t-shirts, I wanted to just take a minute to mention how important it really is. Mainly because it has so greatly affected my life over the past year. I just had my one year anniversary at Dell a few weeks back and I cannot believe I have been there over a year already. It is hands down the greatest job I have ever had and it flew by with so many blessings and rewards. Childhood cancer is one of those things that you hope never personally affects you and yet I have chosen a career where I am asking it to affect me every day. Sometimes it is a positive effect and sometimes it is so very negative. I just think sometimes people view it as something that they know someone who knows someone who had cancer when they were little or who's child or sibling had cancer. I know a lot of people aren't directly affected by it, but I feel almost lucky to be. This past year has meant a great deal to me because I have been let into so many of my patients lives and families. I have my girls that I just love and keep adding to - Caitlyn, Kathy, Camryn, Perla, Veronica, Yazmin, Sara, Alden. I know this list will continue to grow and change and I know that some of them will grow up and not even remember that they were ever a part of my life, but I also know for a fact that I will never forget their faces or their stories and the impact that they have had on mine. I have dealt with the loss of Veronica and the heartbreak and absolute crushing weight of having her pass away and the re-thinking of if this is even the right job for me. I do believe God put me in this job for a reason and I know that I learn something every day from different patients. A 17 year old who texts me pictures of her chest tube because I am away at camp and can't be there to see it in person. A 3 year old who is in awe of a room I filled with bubbles and proclaims it a "bubble miracle." A 12 year old with the attitude and wisdom of someone so much older. A 2 year old who names her IV pole, Stanley, and then is shocked to see that everyone has a Stanley. These are the moments that make my life and that I am actually getting paid to enjoy and experience. These are the lives that I am supposedly helping out and contributing to and making better when in all reality, I feel as though their contribution to mine has been so much greater. So I just wanted to take a moment and recognize the fact that it is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month and to encourage you to be aware and to be thankful for your life and those around you, and really just to put down on paper how grateful I am for the lives of those children that are affected by cancer. I love each and every little bald one of them.