Mom, Your Fight is My Fight.
I was born and raised in New Orleans, Louisiana, and was the oldest child. By the age of 6, my mother had taught me several things that your average 6-year-old would never have imagined learning. I learned to cook, clean the house, and to wash and press my clothes. As I got a little older, I even dropped my brothers off at daycare as I went to school and picked them up afterward.
My mother worked two jobs: as a nurse at a hospital and also at a clinic. She was all about helping and taking care of people. This was a rare attribute and not something I would see anywhere else in my years of growing up in the projects of New Orleans. But I learned this and a lot more from my mother, and above all, she taught me to be the best I can be, and to strive to be even better than that.
My brothers and I did not have a father in our lives, so I became a father figure to my brothers and taught them everything I knew. I made sure their homework was done, their chores were done around the house, and their clothes were ready for school the next day. Mom picked up a 3rd job to put us all through private school because she wanted more for us than what was going on in our neighborhood. She wanted better for us. There was no room for excuses, or “I cannot” in our vocabulary. She would not allow me to play sports unless my GPA was above 3.0 and I was on the Honor Roll. And her persistence paid off!
But then, when I was in High School, something changed. Mom was getting sick here and there, but tried to keep this from us and kept working and paying for us to continue our private school education. Then, in the blink of an eye, she was in the hospital and I was confused. Why was my mother who was so good to everyone and such a strong woman lying in the hospital? Why had she gotten skinnier and lost her hair? It was then that I found out she was diagnosed with breast cancer. As a teenage boy, I had no idea what that meant for my mom.
After three weeks in the hospital, they allowed her to come home, so I thought all was well. I went out with my friends to a football game. As I returned home, I saw an ambulance and police vehicles near our place, and I was thinking it had nothing to do with my family. But it did. As I approached, I realized they were at my home. My mother had passed away.
At 15 years old, I had no father and had brothers to raise. For a month, I was lost and in pain, with nowhere to go. But I knew that I had to shake it off because I now understood why my mother had taught me all of those things in life.
It was for this time.
I remembered how she showed me how to care for others more than I care for myself. So, I began to raise my brothers and I began studying this Breast Cancer. I wanted to know what Breast Cancer was and how to help others not go through what I went through at such a young age.
To overcome being homeless after my mother’s death, while raising brothers, missing meals, and trying to find a place for us to lay our heads, all while making sure that we all continued to further our education… It became my will to fight our way out of this for our mother. I allowed myself and my brothers no excuses and as she had taught me, and “I cannot” was never the option.
Breast Cancer Awareness is serious to me and I will continue to help others fight through the struggles of this even as I still, from time to time, feel the pain in my heart as fresh as if it had just happened.
I know that it’s not about me; but about helping others to have hope and to find the will to fight the good fight of faith. It is worth the pain of sharing this, even if it reaches one person that really needs it.
Mom, your fight will always be my fight.
You don't have any saved vehicles!
Look for this link on your favorites:
Once you've saved some vehicles, you can view them here at any time.
(352) 419-0840
Call Now2077 Hwy 44 W • Inverness, FL 34453
Get DirectionsSales: Closed
Service: Closed
