What does a mother think of when faced with a potentially life-threatening disease like cancer? How much time she has, how to tell her children, how to maximise her quality time with the kids and ultimately, the what-ifs.
Some parents end up leaning on their children more than they intend to. Others try to spend as much quality time with the kids and even risk spoiling the children.
What do mothers think of when faced with cancer and what are the challenges they face with regards to their family?
Never expected
Faridah Muhamad, mother of two, stared cancer in the face in 2004. She was then diagnosed with cervical cancer, stage 2. Her daughter was then 15 and her son was 13.
“At that time, I did not take it badly because I already had some knowledge of cancer as I had been involved in fundraising activities for Makna (National Cancer Council Malaysia) before I even got cancer.
“It's just that I never expected to get cancer myself. I found out at my annual checkup when I did my pap smear test,” says Faridah.
She explains that her eldest daughter was then sitting for her PMR (Penilaian Menengah Rendah) exam and so she decided to delay breaking the news to both children as she did not want it to affect her daughter's results.
“I had to pull myself together, be strong and not show them what I was going through otherwise their exam results would be affected. I actually managed to delay telling them the news until after my eldest did her PMR.
“I had been having period pains before that so they might have suspected something was wrong. But, it was still like a bombshell to them.
“Thankfully, when my husband broke the news to our children he was very calm. So, although the children cried and asked why, they accepted it well. My daughter asked a lot of questions, including whether she too would get cervical cancer one day.
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