Abigail Ackermann - Our Mom Has Cancer

Published by theAmerican Cancer SocietyHealth Promotions250 Williams StreetAtlanta, GA 30303 2001 American Cancer Society All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of the publisher. Printed in Korea Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Ackermann, Abigail. Our mom has cancer / Abigail Ackermann, Adrienne Ackermann. p. cm.

Summary: Two sisters, ages eleven and thirteen, describe what it was like for them when their mother was diagnosed with breast cancer and underwent surgery and chemotherapy, ISBN 0-944235-16-6 (trade pbk.) 1. Breast--Cancer--Juvenile literature. [1. Breast--Cancer. 2.Cancer--Patients. Diseases. 4. 4.

Childrens writings.] I. Ackermann, Adrienne. RC280.B8 A25 2002 362.19699449--dc21 2002000963 ISBN 0-944235-16-6 Designed by Shock Design, Inc., Atlanta, GeorgiaFor more information, contact your American Cancer Societyat 1-800-ACS-2345 or www.cancer.org This book is dedicated to our mom, Dawn Ackermann A bby, Abby, look, theres our car! And Abby, theres Mom and Dad, Adrienne squealed with excitement. We both got off the bus. We had just gotten home from a great week at summer camp! We chattered all the way home with our news. When we got home, Mom said to get ready for the luau at the pool.

Our brother and sister had already gone on ahead. We want to talk to you about something, Mom said. From the look on Moms face, it appeared that we were going to get bad news. Daddo then told us that they had had a hard week at home. Mom went to the doctor on Tuesday and found out she has breast cancer, Daddo explained. Both of our mouths dropped open.

Adrienne started to cry. All Abby could do was say No under her breath, but then she was crying too. Are you going to die? Adrienne asked. Well, were not planning on that, but Ill probably be sick for awhile, Mom said. How long? asked Abby. Probably until Easter.

We cried for awhile and hugged Mom and Daddo. Then we went to the luau. We were glad to do something fun! The time came for Moms operation. Only Daddo went with her to the hospital. We got to do something fun! We went to our cousins house for a couple of days. We played games, watched movies, told stories, and had fun! When we came home we rushed to greet Mom.

Hold on, Mom said. Hug me gently. She smiled. For awhile Mom wore a sling on her arm. In the evenings we all did exercises with Mom, like stretching. U sually in the summertime, lots of friends came to our house. U sually in the summertime, lots of friends came to our house.

Our mom would sometimes babysit them. But this summer was different. Since our mom was feeling sick and she slept a lot, we visited lots and lots of friends instead. We had mixed feelings about that, but overall we had a LOT of fun! At the end of the summer Mom started chemotherapy. It was bad. The minute she came home after a day at the hospital with Daddo she went straight to bed.

She couldnt eat with our family because the smell of the food would make her throw up. Adrienne would cry. Mom would stay in bed for several days, laying very still. Instead of her coming to our room to say good night to us, we came to her bed to say good night to her. If she wasnt feeling too bad, she would still read to us. After a few days Mom would start to feel better again and life seemed normalexcept we were expecting her to lose her hair.

Chemo does that. One day we were sitting at the bus stop before school. Mom reached up to touch her hair and it came right out. If you put a piece of tape on it, the hair came right off! Pretty soon there were bald spots. It was terrible! Really terrible! O ur aunt had a great idea. She threw a hat party for our mom! It was right after her hair was really falling out.

Lots of friends came and everyone brought a hat! We wrote a song and sang it. This is how it went There is dark hair and theres lightAnd theres hair thats out of sightThere is short hair and then theres longBut when all that hair falls outDont cry or weep or poutCause a hat will cover up your scalp.She had beautiful hair, beautiful hairHair that used to be thereBut now her head is bareBut she had beautiful hairAnd in the future shell have beautiful hair! Our mom was really pleased. She received thirteen hats! Moms hair was falling out so much she decided to shave it off and she said we could help. We went to our hairdresser Jessies house. Jessie did most of it, but we did some, too. Once Moms head was totally shaved Abby exclaimed, Mommy, youre all face! We were happy to see that Mom didnt have a cone head, she had a perfectly round head.

We took video pictures of the whole event. One of the good things about Mom having cancer is all the wonderful dinners that our friends have been making for us. Some of the foods weve had are lasagna, taco salad, soup, ribs, pork chops, and chicken. We asked people NOT to bring us any green beans. And they dont. We really like the food because our mom never did particularly like to cook in the first place! Halfway through Moms treatments, the type of chemotherapy changed.

We liked this kind better. Instead of feeling sick in the beginning and good in the end, she felt good in the beginning and not so great in the end. Instead of her stomach hurting, her bones hurtespecially her feet and legs. So, we got a wheelchair for those hard days. Although we wanted to push Mom more often, we made her nervous, so Daddo or our big brother did most of the pushing.