Crafting: The Ultimate Recharge

On June 7th, 2019 I got the phone call no parent wants. My daughter had a mass removed, a cyst, "nothing to worry about" the doctor told us over and over again, about 3 weeks earlier. "I have good news in bad news. The bad news is your daughter has cancer, the good news is it is treatable. Any questions?"

Just the night before my daughter and I had been at a concert having the time of our lives! She had just finished Middle School that day, and we had planned this concert since Christmas! We had floor seats and it was a night for Mom and girl to enjoy themselves singing the night away. During the concert she mostly sat, saying she was tired. I told her not to worry, she had a busy week with finals and such. I have never been more wrong.

My oldest daughter, my first baby, at age 13 had cancer, a rare form called Ewing's Sarcoma. My life became Doctor appointments, blood tests and doing everything I could to keep her happy and healthy, as any parent would. Fertility treatments for a 13 year old are no joke! Struggling to get her to eat, constantly checking her temperature, ER rushes and Blood Transfusion's, my life was filled with scary things.

This left no time for me. My life was cancer, my whole being was just being a cancer mom. It started to become over whelming. I had always loved crafts of all types, Scrapbooking being my favorite, but everything for me took a back seat. It hurt me to look at pictures of my daughter, to see old ones with her healthy with hair, to new ones where she was bald and more frail. I tried not to let it hurt me, to be happy she was handling it so well, but in my mind I was crying. I realized this was not healthy for me or my family. I needed time to deal with my thoughts and pains. I had to be whole for them, which meant looking inside of me.

So I started with just 30 minutes a week, with planning stickers, or maybe a little crochet. Then I took on a Christmas project to make altered clip boards with pretty paint and paper. for all my coworkers I listened to music, watched tv, I sang, and even I sometimes cried. Time by myself I usually feared but this centered me. Like recharging a battery. Therapy for my soul. And I had something beautiful at the end, that I could share. And my daughter joined me, even did some crafts with me and found a new love for cross stitch. It helped her during the long weeks at the hospital., which were filled with sickness and boredom for a teenager.

Slowly but surely, I have scrapbooked most of her cancer journey, as I am happy to say, she finished Chemo on February 22nd, 2020. Her first surgery, her hair dye before the baldness, her cutting her own hair and then having is shaved off, fun activities at the hospital and finally ringing the bell to signify the end of treatment. We even were lucky enough to throw a No Mo chemo party before COVID hit! Sometimes it is hard to look back, but now I smile knowing she did it, we did it. And this was a part of our life and we can remember the good parts and know together we can do anything!

With COVID, we were locked in due to her system but we still had fun together, and the whole family joined in with altering items, making dream boards, crochet, sewing, anything you could think of! We are even now making a dream catcher with her Beads of Courage form treatments. So while I still might do some crafting alone, it is much better together.

Could crafting cure cancer? No, but it makes the ride much more bearable.