Goodbye, Mum

Dear RocelleAnne Thank you for sharing your experience of your Mum's passing in such a beautiful post. I too lost my mother in 1981 to metastatic breast cancer that spread to her brain. I was 24 years old and had lost my father suddenly to a stroke at 18. In those days the family was not encouraged to say goodbyes as is the practice now. Thankfully, there has been a change. My siblings and I were reasonably young to have lost both parents and lived with a lot of grief that I'm sure would have been alleviated somewhat if we had been more involved with our parents deaths. Sadly, I too have metastatic breast cancer that spread to my bones and my liver in October 2012. I was first diagnosed at 50 years of age on my first mammogram. I was always told I didn't need mammograms earlier because my mother was post menopausal when first diagnosed. I've since found put that my maternal grandmother died of liver cancer but my oncologists feels the primary probably started in the breast. I have a 23 year old daughter and I know that she will also go through the pain of losing her mother long before she should.. Be gentle on yourself and take time with your grief. Do everything you can not to get this wretched disease. Sue, Elwood