Yesterday I would have said that one of the worst things a mom could face is a cancer diagnosis just months after giving birth. But then I heard about Kezia Fitzgerald. She's spent the year fighting stage 3 Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. And her baby girl, Saoirse, has spent the year in her own battle with cancer.
A mom with cancer and a baby with cancer, both at the same time? It's absolutely terrifying. And yet, the way Kezia and husband Mike are approaching this double whammy may just be the most inspiring thing I've come across in a long time.
Because of all the cancers to crop up during pregnancy, Hodgkins is one of the most common. But only about 1 in 1,000 women will encounter cancer during pregnancy (Kezia's technically began with a swollen lymph node during her pregnancy but was not diagnosed until this past January, six months after she gave birth). And then there's the neuroblastoma that has threatened Saoirse's life since May. It's one of the most common cancers to crop up during infancy. But again, the odds are just crazy -- there are only about 650 new cases per year in the entire United States. That equates to approximately 9.5 cases per million children.
Put those odds one on top of another, and it would take someone with much better math skills than me to figure out how likely this is. But it's got to be pretty darn rare.
And yet the Massachusetts family is taking every obstacle and jumping over the hurdle. Mike was told his company couldn't keep him on anymore after such a long leave? They kept going. Mike got into a car accident? They kept going. And on Thanksgiving day, Kezia sat down not to write a blog post about how much life sucks, but how thankful she is.
Really? Thankful?
I don't know if I could do that. And yet, if a mom can battle her own cancer and keep fighting for her baby girl's life at the same time, AND still find the energy to thank the universe for the gifts she's been given, I know I too can make it through anything. Kezia Fitzgerald may have it tough right now, but she might just be the most incredible mom on the planet at the moment.
Does the Fitzgeralds' story make you more thankful for all you have? How about paying it forward with a donation to the Fitzgerald Cancer Fund or by buying the wish bracelets (photo above) being sold to help this family out?
Image via Etsy