Naively I never imagined that one of my children would get cancer. So when my daughter, Annaleigh, was diagnosed with osteosarcoma at age 16, it hit me like a ton of bricks. Simultaneously I went into full action and anxiety mode. It took weeks to wrap my head around this new reality and there was no time to waste in terms of getting her the care and treatment she needed.

We were fortunate to have a large network of friends and family who surrounded us and I learned to accept support in ways that were unfamiliar with my normal ways of functioning. I knew that if I was going to be able to be 100% available to my daughter, I needed to be ok with letting other people do things like fold laundry, grocery shop, and cook us meals. This freed me up to be for her in the way that both of us needed. So when people offered to help, I learned to say Yes.

I am most grateful for how close our family became during her treatment. We huddled around Annaleigh, spent hours watching movies and TV series, taking short walks, doing arts and crafts, playing boggle, and one of our favorite activities: completing the NY Times crossword puzzle. We found joy in the simple things and comfort in being together.

We are now 6 months out since she completed chemotherapy. Her leg is still healing where they took the tumor out and she may need another surgery. There are times that life seems almost normal again, and then she has pain in her leg or one of her regular follow up scans and we are reminded that post-cancer normal is different than pre-cancer. Anxiety lives under the surface and is easily sparked by the trauma of last year.

I cannot change what has happened so I am in gratitude for the lessons learned and gifts received during the past 16 months. The naivety that this couldn’t happen to us is gone and that makes each day that much more valuable. I love hearing other peoples stories of survival because they give me hope. Everyday that passes is one more day that we are blessed and one more day closer to a full recovery.