Bone Cancer and the loss of a beloved mother

     I had a very close friend who lived down the street from my grandparents.  Her family was very welcoming to everyone, especially her mother.  I used to attend youth group activities with the family on sunday evenings and even that I was not part of their family, her mother always included me like I was one of own.  When we were 10 years of age her mother was diagnosed with a very aggressive form of bone cancer.  The family was devastated, she was the rock that held the family together.  Within a year, she was gone.  It struck without warning and spread through her body like wildfire, it felt like she never even had a chance.  As the years passed, the family closeness withered away and three girls in the family without direction fell victim to peer pressure and teenage pregnancy.  Her older sister was a teenage mother at 15 and her younger sister also at 14, she unfortunately turned to drugs and dropped out of high school and eventually enrolled in a technical school for hairdressing but without that loving support and guidance from her mother, began stripping for money.  The father did remarry but unfortunately her new stepmother had little interest in the girls and provided them with little or no guidance.  As you can guess, educationally all three girls suffered and emotionally without the love and stability of family, they dealt with feelings of abandonment and low self-esteem.  I have not seen her in over ten years but the last time I did see her, she was still stripping but now at a more premier club, was addicted to drugs and had fears of developing any relationships including friendships because of the fear that if she cared for anyone they would just be taken from her.  I tried to convince her that she was worth more than that but the emotional scar left from losing her mother and the abandonment feelings she dealt with from her father remarrying and in some ways leaving the girls as well had made such a devastating impact on her that I can only hope that she will eventually get the help she needs to re-build her self-esteem and teach her, as her mother would have, that she is worth more.

Information about bone cancer
http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/factsheet/Sites-Types/bone