#SickKidsMomStrong: Natasha
Guest blog by Natasha, mom to SickKids kid SelenaWhen you are a mother of a sick child, being strong is really the only choice you have. Your child needs you now more than ever and you have to step up to the plate. As much as you wish you could, you can’t take away the illness. So instead, you give them all the love, comfort, strength and power that you have in your very being. At least that is what I believe as a SickKids mom.
Strength is something I have had to muster many times since my daughter, Selena, was diagnosed with cancer. The moment the doctors told me that Selena had cancer, I had to leave the room as I was sobbing and gasping for air. When I ran out of the room, I initially found myself alone in the hallway on the 7th floor. A couple minutes later, two nurses came to me, handed me a glass of water and a tissue and gave me a pep talk. I wiped my tears, picked myself back up and took a deep breath. I walked back into my daughter’s room with a big smile on my face, and I told her that everything was going to be okay. I had to be strong for her and I had to let her know that we will beat this.
"A bald head is beautiful and, together, we would be strong and not let cancer win."
The pain was hard on me. The truth of what cancer represents in the world hit me in a new way as I looked at her beautiful brown curly hair lying on the floor beside us. That same day, I decided to show my daughter that a head full of hair does not determine who you are as a person. I took my husband’s clippers and shaved off half of my own hair so that I could be in solidarity with my daughter. A bald head is beautiful and, together, we would be strong and not let cancer win.
