I still remember the day like it was yesterday. The day I was told my brother had cancer.

...I am currently in fifth grade and my life is so fun and carefree. As I got closer to my house, I noticed that my mom wasn’t home. I instantly knew that she is with my older brother, Travon, at the hospital. After a few hours, my mom came home, she then told me that my little brother and I would we staying at my aunts for about a week. I didn’t matter much to me and my brother, Terrell, because that meant we would miss the last couple of days of school.
Neither of us fully did understand what was happening. I am eleven and he is nine. As the hours dragged on, i was wondering what she meant about the thing she told me earlier. When the words, “Me, Travon, and, aunt April are going to Detroit to make sure Travon either does or doesn’t cancer” slipped out of her mouth, my heart just dropped. I haven’t heard a lot about cancer, I know that some are more dangerous than others and it could kill you. I also thought it was when you lost all of your hair, were sick, and were weak until my mom proved me wrong saying that was chemo .

The days went by slowly. I was counting the days down until I went and stayed with my aunt. I just thought of ending the school year a tad earlier than everyone else, and how that was an excuse for leaving the class. I asked to leave class to “clean” out my locker and get everything I needed. I had a few friends come with me because they distracted me from thinking of this situation by telling me jokes and cheering me up. I was thankful for that. I thought things like this couldn’t happen to me so I was positive Travon wouldn’t have cancer.




My mom finally came and picked up Terrell and I. I was dying to know what happened while her, Travon, and my Aunt were in detroit. The car was silent as my mom was driving and Terrell was basically sleeping because of the 40 minute drive. As I watched cars go one by one, certain questions ran through my head.

"Was Travon dying? Is that why my mom is acting different?

Minutes later, we pulled up to our house. She pulled me and Terrell upstairs into her room and sat on her bed.

"Good or bad news first?" My mom said while crying.

"Bad!" I basically yelled so even if the news was worse than I expected, I knew I had something to look forward to.

"Well, Travon has cancer but the good news is that since the tumor he had caused him to get cancer, he went through surgery and had the tumor and the cancer removed”

“At least he doesn’t have it anymore” Terrell finally spoke up.

“Good point, I know it seems bad and everything but we should all just thank god that he doesn’t have it now and most likely will never get it again” I said in a obvious tone.

At that point, no one said anything after that. It was silent except the sound of my mom’s heartbreaking tears. As for Travon, I had no idea what was running through his head. He wasn’t one to open up about his feelings and he rarely showed emotion to any of us. I wish I had been there to live this experience with him and my family. Everytime I think about that moment, I think about how everything happens for a reason and how god wouldn’t give us hard times if he knew we couldn’t handle it and I’m extremely thankful for everything that happened in my life. The is probably the hardest thing i will ever witness as in anything with my family.

To this day, I found myself constantly thinking about summer 2010. I really doesnt seem like it happened two years ago. I’ve already lost my oldest brother Trenton that was born before me from a disease and I really wouldn’t want to loose another. I’m lucky to have my life stress free as of right now, besides the whole incident I just explained. My plan is to make my mom’s life a bit less stressful by going to school more often, and helping her around the house, and going to college in four or five years. Also, by having a successful career, making her proud, So when she talks about her kids, she can have a huge smile on her face. I want to surround myself with people that make me happy, instead of people that make me depressed. I’m proud to live the life I do and I’m proud to share my story.