It's the Little Things

Sometimes it takes big things to remind us of the little things.

Since my friend's 12-year-old was diagnosed with recurrent neuroblastoma three weeks ago, their lives have been turned upside-down. Again. No parent should have to go through this even once... but twice?

He was nine months old the first time he had neuroblastoma - cancer in his abdomen and spinal cord. After six months of chemotherapy, the dead tumor was removed surgically. For the next five years, he was tested and scanned every few months before he was finally declared cancer-free.

By January 4 this year, the cancer had returned - a rare occurrence for this type of cancer and in a patient so "old."

He spent five days in the hospital last week for surgery to remove as much of the tumor as possible. Over the weekend, he came home to spend time with his family and friends before returning to the hospital today for further testing and his first round of chemotherapy.

During those days at home, he spent time doing ordinary things - playing video games with his younger brother, texting his friends, watching football on TV with his dad. But in their new world of cancer, this family doesn't take even the ordinary for granted. In fact, the ordinary is extraordinary to them.

And my friend wants the rest of us to know this, too. That our seemingly tedious lives of school lunches, after-school activities, homework, dinners together, and - yes - even sibling bickering are rife with moments to cherish.

The things I can do to make our friends' lives a little easier help them, but what I'd really like to do is make the cancer and the pain go away. I can't do that, much as I would like to. But I can pass along her words of wisdom - from one mom to another to many.

She's busy taking care of her boy right now. But she'd want you to know: appreciate the little things in life.

And hug your children.