A Cancer Story: Rob’s Mom

Posted by Justin Goldsborough | 0 comments

Mar 06, 13

I am honored to be a 2013 candidate for the Leukemia Lymphoma Society Man/Woman of the Year campaign. Each year, 25-30 individuals dedicate 10 weeks (March 7-May 23 this year) to reach out to their community and raise more than $500,000 for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society (LLS). I will be sharing a cancer story each week of the campaign — some about leukemia and lymphoma and some about other types of cancer — to raise awareness. Please consider sharing your stories in the comments and donating to my LLS MWOY campaign.

Cancer Sucks. I remember when Rob dropped out of college. We both went to Barstow for high school. I met Rob when I started in fourth grade. He was a lifer — been there since kindergarten.

Everyone in my class went to college. And almost all of them graduated. But Rob didn’t. He left Whittier College and moved back home after a year. Pretty soon after, he started working at Goodcents. And some people started talking. What was going on with Rob? Guess he couldn’t hack it, huh?  Why didn’t he finish college?

Those people and their questions really pissed me off. They still do when I write about them today. Because see, Rob was a bigger person than any of them with a bigger heart. He was a bigger person than I was. I can tell you that.

Rob dropped out of school to come back home and take care of his parents. To take care of his dad, who had a a condition the doctors’ couldn’t diagnose. To take care of his mom…who had been diagnosed with breast cancer.

It’s an easy decision to stay in college and stay on the track you’d been planning for years. It’s a much tougher decision to give up your new life in California, put your life on hold and move back home to take care of your parents at a much earlier age than you ever would have thought.

Rob didn’t talk about his mom much. And I never once heard him complain about moving back home. He just did what he had to do. I remember the smile on his face and relief in his voice when the doctors said her cancer was in remission. And I remember the pain on his face and in his voice when the cancer came back and there was nothing they could do.

Cancer sucks. But there is something we can do together to help people who have a loved one fighting cancer like Rob did. Please consider donating to the Leukemia Lymphoma Society to help fight blood cancers in Kansas City. All the money stays right here in Kansas City. Thank you for your support.