Help My Mom, Mariana, Beat Cancer!!

My mother, Mariana, is a loving, caring, and thoughtful parent, wife, and friend. She has given up everything for me so I can get the best education and opportunity. She worked countless jobs with my father just to make ends meet for me and all life has given her in return is not just one run-in with cancer but two. She went through stage 3 breast cancer in the summer of 2012 and went through chemo, radiation, and radical surgery while still working with special needs children in public schools. I remember the night of her operation, I wanted to go with my parents to the hospital to give my mom support and be there when she woke up but my father had told me that it would be better if I stayed home and went to my basket ball practice that I had that night. I was confused but I realized that since I was so young I couldn't imagine the odds of this surgery being successful. Even though the odds were in my moms favor my dad still wanted to protect me from the worst. After I went to my practice I decided to walk home because my house was only a few blocks away. The walk that would usually take me a few minutes to complete took me almost a half an hour. I couldn't help but think about my mom in the hospital and I felt my legs feeling weaker and weaker as I kept thinking of it. I would pass each telephone pole having to grab onto it and start sobbing because I kept thinkinking that I would never see my mom again. I was able to come home and after many hours of just laying in bed and crying I was able to fall asleep. The next morning I woke up and went to my parents room where my father had been sleeping alone. I immediately woke him up and asked him about how the procedure went and he just smiled at me and said that it went well and that my mom was safe and recovering in the hospital.   
               We were all so glad to hear that she was able to “beat” this cancer but 5 years later we were given the dreadful news that her cancer had spread. When I heard of this news i was in total disbelief. I was heartbroken. I couldn't believe that my biggest role model was cursed with this again. Her cancer had spread to her lungs, bones, and spine where she was given the status of a stage 4 cancer patient. I didn't take this news lightly as it haunted me for many sleepless nights again. One night I decided to stop sulking and do something to help my family with the expenses of her new treatment. I felt that since I couldn't help when she first got cancer since I was young I decided to do something.  She decided to seek the help of a holistic treatment center in Florida where she will spend the next 7 weeks. On top of all the sacrificing she did for me she also found the time to work with autistic children by doing ABA therapy in public schools in Garfield, New Jersey. Since my mom cannot fly due to the severity of her cancer, we will be driving down to Florida and I will spend the next 4 weeks with her since i'm going to start my first semester of college in early fall. All i want is for my mom to get better and I feel with the help of the many kind people on this site I feel like we will be able to get my mom back on her feet and fight this terrible disease that has plagued and affected so many people. Thank you so much for all of the contributions and saving the life of this person who is not only precious to me but to many other people as well.

-Marianas Son, Robert


My Mom and I.


My mom and her brother, Branko, during her chemotherapy in 2012.


My Mom, Dad, and I during my High School graduation in 2017.