Pam, Mom’s best friend, was like a second mom to me. When Mom would go to her house I’d sometimes go with her. Almost every time I would end up complaining that I was bored and beg my mom to take me home. Soon, I would be spending a lot more of my time over at Pam’s house, and I wouldn’t be whining to go home.

I remember coming home from another long, boring day of school, when my mom told me Pam was in the hospital.
“Why?! What happened?!” I exclaimed.
“She was getting ready for work and she passed out. Luckily, Rosy and Tehya woke her up.”
“Where were Ty and Rex when this happened? And can you please explain to me how the dogs woke her up?”
“Rex was already gone for work and Ty was asleep in the other room. She said she woke up to the dogs licking at her face, and she called an ambulance. They still don’t know why she passed out, so she’s probably going to be spending the night in the hospital while they do more tests.”
“Is she going to be okay?”
“I hope so. We’re going to visit her later today.”
A couple hours later we got to the hospital. When I saw Pam, she looked tired, sore, and I could tell they had her on drugs. I didn’t like seeing her like that. My mom and I stayed and talked with Pam and her family for a little while, but we had to leave since it was getting late.
Over the next couple of days we found out that Pam had been diagnosed with breast cancer. At first it all seemed unreal, like what they were telling me wasn’t true and everything was normal, but seeing my mom and Pam crying all the time made me realize that this was really happening. Pam really did have cancer. I’d always heard of people getting cancer, even people that I knew, but never did I think that it would happen to someone so close to me and my mom. I was really scared; I didn’t know what would happened to Pam, whether she would survive the cancer or have 6 months left to live. I just didn’t know what to expect.
After she went to the doctor the next time we found out that she had an aggressive type of cancer. It really scared me to hear that. It made it sound like the odds were against her. The doctor told her that since they had caught it early they would be able to get rid of the cancer. She would have to go through chemotherapy and radiation. This made us all really sad, because, as you know, people who go through chemo lose their hair.
Pam had the most beautiful long brown hair that came down past her hips. She was really upset about losing her hair, but decided to cut it and donate it to locks of love before she lost it completely. Her and her two daughters all cut their hair and donated it.
When Pam went to chemo my mom was the one to drive her to all of her appointments. I remember one time when we were camping we had to drive down out of the mountains so Pam could go to chemo. I went with them that time, and it was really sad to see how weak and sick it made Pam.
Through her whole battle with cancer what I remember most is how much my mom cried. We spent almost every day over at Pam’s house and usually stayed pretty late. One night my mom, me, Pam’s two daughters Sunny and Skye, her husband Rex, her son Ty, and her grandkids Tayzhia and Jaden were all sitting there with her when she broke down crying.
“I’m not going to make it! I just know I won’t! What’s going to happen to Ty?!”
We were all shocked that she didn’t believe she would make it after how far she’d come. To calm her down Rex called the Bishop and asked them to give her a blessing. Twenty minutes later, they showed up at the door. We all sat around Pam while they gave her the blessing. I was looking around and I saw everyone with tears in their eyes. After they had finished, I think Pam was feeling a little better, but she still didn’t think she was going to pull through.
That night we all hugged Pam and told her how much we loved her, how strong she was and that we knew she would make it.
The day of her surgery I was in school. My mom called me after I got out of school to tell me that the surgery went perfectly well. I was really relieved to hear that news. I went to visit her that night and the feeling in the room was a lot happier and I was sure that Pam’s battle with cancer was almost over.
Pam is done with chemo and radiation now. It’s been over a year and she’s still cancer free. Before this experience I was naïve. I think this experience taught me how to be patient and not give up hope. I know now that I should have been happy even when I was bored at Pam’s house. I could have lost her at any minute and now I realize that I should appreciate time with people I love, because you never know what life will throw at you.