A story of a lady who has overcome cancer

by Nimal
(Sri Lanka)

This story is about my mother. She celebrates her 92nd birthday on 17th March. My mother has been a housewife all her life. I have never known her to say "no I can't". Everything could be done ... and in her stride she would say "yes I can" in every situation. Here are some examples of how she has enriched her life and those around her:

- In school I had tremendous problems grasping Algebra. My dad worked in the education field and was a master at solving mathematical problems. So he decided to coach me in Algebra. After a couple of days of after school coaching, I was still hopeless at Algebra. My dad was at his wit's end, and virtually gave up on me saying that maybe I would never be good in Maths. At this stage, my mum who had done only high school Maths took it upon herself that she will coach me. She took me through the basics of Algebra, and most of all she kept on saying that Algebra is so easy. I got an "A" for Algebra that term in school.

- When I was about 10 years old a plumber who had done some work in our home had left behind a pack of cigerettes. I found this pack of cigarettes and decided to try a smoke. I told my mother that I would smoke a cigarette and lit a cigarettes in front of her. After a couple of puffs I started to cough. My mother calmly said "I knew that would happen" and continued doing what she was doing. That was the first and the last time I smoked a cigarette. I had absolutely no desire to smoke again.

- At 87 years of age she volunteered to work in a home for elders, doing chores like washing up after meals, helping to change the bed linnen, playing board games with the inmates etc. Most of the people that she cared for in that home were much younger than herself.

- Up to the age of 89, she would travel half way around the world - from Australia where she lives now with my sister, to Sri Lanka where I live - on her own, once a year.

At the age of 91 she revealed to us that she had advanced breast cancer which she had not told anybody about! When asked why she did not tell anyone, she said that she did not have to, because she felt no discomfort at all. Whenever I would call her, she would tell me that she is fine, that she would be coming to visit me again soon etc.

The doctors said that the cancer was advanced, and that due to her age it was not feasible to perform surgery to remove the cancer. However due to the fact that the cancer was now begining to grow out of the skin and was bleeding, they decided to perform surgery to be able to better manage it.

She is now back at home and back to her routine of cooking, cleaning, gardening etc. Whenever I call her she still says that she is fine, and she has no discomfort pain or any complication. She is now planning another trip to visit me in Sri Lanka.

Just before her surgery, a team of doctors interviewed her to determine her suitability to withstand surgery. One of the questions they asked her was "When was the last time you had to spend a night in a hospital and for what?" Her answer was "to have may last baby (that's me) 55 years ago!