Throughout my childhood, I was under the assumption that my paternal grandfather would live forever. He never seemed to grow older; each passing year would deepen his smile lines, but I never saw these wrinkles as a sign of age. My grandfather was one of the happiest individuals I have ever known. He knew how to make everyone laugh and always provided a helping hand to those in need. My grandfather was a family man and made sure to put the needs of his loved ones before his own every day of his life. A few years ago my dad told me that my grandfather was battling aggressive leukemia. I thought that this diagnosis would come as a shock to my father, but instead I was surprised to learn that my parents had known for about ten years that …show more content…
Even though the bike ride was completed, there was still a grueling journey ahead on which my grandfather had to embark. I tried to be there for my grandfather as much as I could, but I did not get a chance to see my grandfather often; he lived in Florida with my grandmother and only came to New York around the holidays or during a major family event. I talked to him on the phone every Sunday, and it was during these phone calls that I got to share every event of my life with him. It was easy for me to push the thought of his cancer to the back of my mind since I did not see him as much. Even still, the weariness in his voice grew more persistent with each weekly phone call. Conversations that had once lasted forty five minutes were shortened to fifteen; my grandfather could barely utter a sentence without a deep cough erupting from his chest. It hurt me to know that he was trying to hide his pain. I did not know how to comfort him. I wasn’t sure if he wanted to be comforted. I think my grandfather wanted to forget about his cancer; he never mentioned how his treatments were going or how he was feeling. My grandfather continued to act as though his cancer wasn’t an issue. I know that he was trying to live the rest of his life as happily as possible. But the more everyone danced around the subject of grandpa’s illness, the more worried I became about losing …show more content…
Last summer my grandparents celebrated their fiftieth wedding anniversary by taking my brothers, parents, aunt, cousin and I to Rehoboth Beach in Delaware for a week. We were all excited to celebrate this milestone with my grandparents and go on vacation as a family. During the middle of the week, my father took my brothers and me to Assateague Island for the day to see the wild horses. I remember going back to the cottage and telling my grandfather about our day over dinner. He was extremely excited for me and voiced his desires to one day visit Assateague Island. Even though we had already been, my father and I woke up early the next day to take my grandfather and grandmother to Assateague Island for the day. My grandparents both insisted that we forget about the trip; they felt bad for making my dad drive back to the island when he had already been the previous day. Since my dad knew how much my grandfather wanted to see the horses, he spent an hour arguing with my grandfather about bringing him to the beach. After an hour of arguing over whether or not to go, we finally
Although illness narratives are not novel or new, their prevalence in modern popular literature could be attributed to how these stories can be relatable, empowering, and thought-provoking. Susan Grubar is the writer for the blog “Living with Cancer”, in The New York Times, that communicates her experience with ovarian cancer (2012). In our LIBS 7001 class, Shirley Chuck, Navdeep Dha, Brynn Tomie, and I (2016) discussed various narrative elements of her more recent blog post, “Living with Cancer: A Farewell to Legs” (2016). Although the elements of narration and description (Gracias, 2016) were easily identified by all group members, the most interesting topics revolved around symbolism as well as the overall impression or mood of the post.
Illness and pain are by fare two of the worst things we could ever see happen to a loved one. Moreover, know that illness and pain is irreversible and sometimes fatal. Most illness in our older loved ones are caused by the fact that their body is aging. “Older adults experience more chronic illnesses than any other age group (Merck Research Laboratories, 1997).” (Brown 93). “The elderly, especially those over 80 years of age are the fastest growing population in the US, and the elderly report more pain than younger persons.” (Karen Bellenir 57). Michael Wolff discusses his mother’s illnesses and how it is effecting her everyday life. He goes a step further and paints a picture of how it makes him feel, in turn Wolff is able to capture the reader and draw them close to his opinion. “She strains for cognition and shockingly, sometimes bursts forward, reaching it – “Nice suit,” she said to me, out of the blue, a few months ago- before falling back. That is the thing that
By definition, my grandfather is handicapped. However, he doesn't act as though he is, and he certainly does not want to be treated in any special way.
Cancer is a deadly disease that millions of people die from a year. Many loved ones are killed with little to no warning affecting families across our world. My family happened to be one that was affected by this atrocious disease. This event changed the way my family members and I viewed cancer.
Motivation is perhaps the most valuable aspect to one’s personality, and its something that I believe you are born with. I support the idea that what you’ve got in your blood really does make who you are. Thats why I always take pride in representing my family and our heritage. Being brought up by dad, a classic Italian, I guess you could say I am a proud individual and I have got a decent set of morals. The Firenzi family, has gone through their fair share of trials and tribulations to end up where we are today.
One fateful day at the end of June in 1998 when I was spending some time at home; my mother came to me with the bad news: my parent's best friend, Tommy, had been diagnosed with brain cancer. He had been sick for some time and we all had anxiously been awaiting a prognosis. But none of us were ready for the bumpy roads that lay ahead: testing, surgery, chemotherapy, nausea, headaches, and fatigue. Even loud music would induce vomiting. He just felt all around lousy.
My father was diagnosed with cancer a few years ago which created complications in my family. As his health declined, I watched him struggle to pretend that he was fine. Witnessing the disease slowly controlling his body affected me on an emotional level which began to alter my mental and physical health. Due to the overbearing stress of his cancer getting worse, I began to experience poor health from sore throats to colds. Additionally, I began to also feel more anxious than usual. The declining of my father’s health caused me to experience a sense of secondhand stress as I saw him struggle daily.
One hot summer day in July, my dad's side of the family wanted to go to Adventureland in Altoona, Iowa. It was a yearly tradition for all of us grandkids to go with just our grandma and grandpa. Usually they went into the park, watched us go on a couple rides,rode some with us, then they would leave the park and go shopping instead.That ment all the cousins got to be in the park alone.
When I go to sleep at night, do you care? Do you even miss us? Your bottles and mistress I need to know, I need to know why are you walking away. Was it something I did? Did I make a mistake? I was raised by my mother for the majority of my infant years the reason is because my father left before I was born. He went missing for a few years and we didn’t know how he was or if he even was alive, I remember thinking to myself, if my father ever thought of us while he was “missing”. One faithful day out of the blue we received an old crusted letter and it was from my father stating that he was no longer in Mexico and was inside the United States. “What on Earth was he doing there”, I thought to myself. Over the course of my beginning years I didn’t
No one wanted to answer the phone. An ominous tone accompanied the hollow ring. One-two-three-four. Finally, my mother summoned up the courage to answer the phone before the answering machine picked it up.
I walked downstairs to the basement of my grandpa Jack’s. His house was in boxes. his memories, life, and possessions neatly sorted into cardboard boxes. I slowly walked to the closest portion of his life. It was labeled Keegan. My mom walks over with tears in her eyes.
Never would I have expected something this exponential to happen to my father and have such an impact on my family. When I was younger I used to be upset that I was the only one doing things around the house, but as I got older I knew my father appreciated all my help. My grandparents would also try and help as much as they could. I am thankful that I have become a better and stronger person during my father’s battle with this horrific disease. It has made a huge impact on the person I am today and the person I plan to be as I grow older. My father will always be an amazing person and a substantial fighter in my eyes. He decided to go and buy an iPhone so that we can FaceTime at least once a day and it’s something I always look forward to. No matter what mood I am in, Dad always knows how to put a smile on my face. We all urge everyone to go and have their house tested for radon levels just to be safe. So tell me, when was the last time you told your parents you loved
There are many of heroes along with role models out there for example like Batman, and all the others we sometimes wish we could be, then there are the real heroes or people who make a difference in people’s life. Like firemen, policemen, and our military who take a risk with their life every day. One of my heroes happens to be my Grandpa, He served in The Korean War, he was the first person in the family to attend a college, and he always puts his family first. He didnt argued with anyone, no matter what the situation was. The only thing that he had to do in spite of hating it was fight in the war.
Two years and four months ago I died. A terrible condition struck me, and I was unable to do anything about it. In a matter of less than a year, it crushed down all of my hopes and dreams. This condition was the death of my mother. Even today, when I talk about it, I burst into tears because I feel as though it was yesterday. I desperately tried to forget, and that meant living in denial about what had happened. I never wanted to speak about it whenever anyone would ask me how I felt. To lose my Mom meant losing my life. I felt I died with her. Many times I wished I had given up, but I knew it would break the promise we made years before she passed away. Therefore, I came back from the dead determined and more spirited than before.
This all suddenly changed the day my dad got home early from work with a harsh pain in his lower spine. It was so bad he found it hard to sit up straight; he had to be lying down to lessen the pain. One night the pain got really bad that my mom had to rush my dad to the hospital. It was 4 in the morning! My mom rushed me and my 3 younger siblings to get ready, I didn’t know if to be scared or nervous at the fact of taking my dad to the hospital or mad because she woke us up that early. We spent countless hours at the hospital and throughout that time all kinds of thoughts came through my head. “Will my dad be okay?” My grandma came to pick us up early and took us to her house. My parents came home the next day and called everyone into the room. My dad has cancer. He had a tumor on his spine and it was cancerous, that was what was causing ...