I look up to my mom for many reasons, but mostly I admire her strength. Over the course of two years my mom had to struggle with breast cancer, pneumonia, and injuries from a car accident. Throughout all of it my mom is one of the strongest people I know and she is almost always in a positive mood.

It all started one day in 3rd grade when my mom went to the hospital for a mammogram. Then the doctor advised her to have a biopsy, which showed she had breast cancer. My mom explained to me and my younger sister, that she had cancer and needed to have surgery. I wasn’t sure how to react. Slowly I realized what was happening and what might happen to her. At the time I was scared that I was going to lose my mom.
The night before her surgery, my mom, my sister and I made dozens of Halloween cookies to school. She wanted to make sure every thing was set for Halloween because she wouldn’t be home. My mom had her surgery the day before Halloween and had to stay in the hospital for a few days. I visited her every night. Each time I walked in to her room I saw her lying in her bed with the hospital gown on and her hair slightly ruffled from being in bed all day. Every time I visited her face lit up and a big smile appeared on her face. I sat on her bed or on the chair next to the bed and we would talk or watch the television in her room.
Just before her surgery, I brought a couple of small silver shells I had gotten from the G.F.S shop. After the surgery my mom told me the nurses were not going to let her take the shells into the operating room. She wouldn’t let go of them so the nurse taped them onto her wrist. Every time I visited her she was very happy and was always excited to see me. She never showed any signs of weakness even when I cried because I was scared or upset. She always told me everything was going to be ok and I believed her, It turned out she was right. My mom showed me how handling a difficult situation can affect others because if she had acted upset or scared, I would have been much more worried.
About a year after my mom’s first cancer surgery she was involved in a car accident. My mom and my sister were taking a cab to my mom’s breast cancer doctor and as they were driving through an intersection another car ran a red light and smashed into the taxi. My sister was fine but my mom was jostled around and banged her head against the partition in the cab and suffered a concussion. She had to be treated at the hospital but did not have to stay overnight. That day, when I got home from school my sister came bounding down the steps and said “Guess what Nick, I got to ride in an ambulance today.” My sister was really excited and told me about the ambulance and how all the nurses were nice to her but she didn’t tell me that she had been in a car crash or that my mom had gotten a concussion. I realized something was up when I went up to say hi to my mom and saw her in pajamas with a bandage around her head. She explained what had happened and that everything was going to be ok.

Six months after the car accident, she got pneumonia. The pneumonia was very serious and she had to be hospitalized for a week, including New Years Eve and day. I was on winter vacation from school and was able to spend a lot of time at the hospital with her. My mom was getting better each time I visited so I began to take her for walks around the hospital floor she was staying on. By this time I had gotten used to the sterile smell of the hospital and had met many of the hospital employees. On our walks I would push her oxygen tank and we would go around and say hi to all the doctors and nurses as well as other patients.


My mom has taught me many things but the most important thing she has taught me was how to act in difficult situations. I know now that the way someone acts can affect the way others are going to act. If my mom had showed fear or sadness or anxiety, I would have had a much harder time dealing with her illnesses. But she didn’t, she was usually in a good mood, and never showed any signs that she was hurting in any way. I am proud that my mom is my mom and she is the biggest influence in my life.