A tribute to my hero

As all of you know who read this blog frequently, we have two children.....a son, Peter and a daughter, Kristina.  They are both good kids, both are hard-working and we are quite proud of them.

Peter was three when his sister came along.

She was born on March 27th, 1971 and weighed in at a whopping 6 lbs. 6 ozs.  I am not bragging, she was the perfect baby.  She ate and slept and ate and slept.  The first night home from the hospital, she slept right through.  We had to set the alarm clock to wake her up for her 2 a.m. feeding -- doctor's orders.

Peter was her hero.  She followed him everywhere, including the day she started to walk over to the school to bring her brother home to play with her.  I was putting groceries away in the kitchen when she decided to go.  A neighbour knocked on the door to tell me that she was on her way. 

This year our lives changed.  While Karl was in the hospital undergoing his 4th hip replacement operation, Kristina unbeknownst to us was going through her own struggles.  She had found a lump in her breast.  She had testing.......lots and lots of testing to go through.  She called on her best friend to help her out.  She didn't tell us, she didn't tell her children.  Two other people knew and they were sworn to secrecy.

On Friday, May 28th, Kristina and her husband Paul came over and both were crying.  The first words out of her mouth were "Can you get Dad?"  My heart was breaking already.  She stood on the patio and told us she had breast cancer.  I was devastated.  I had been this same route 4 years earlier.  I didn't want this to be my legacy for my girls.  She was scheduled for surgery on June 1st.  Could we take her daughters?  Of course, we could.  Her son was okay at home.  He could get to the bus in the morning, but she worried about "the girls". 

We took Taylor to her soccer game on the Tuesday night.  She played her heart out and scored two goals.  One for her Mom and one for her Dad.  She also had an assist. 

Kristina started chemo and now only has one more to go.  Then she will start 21 radiation treatments with 6 boosters.  I have no idea what she has gone through.  I never had chemo.  I know it is difficult for her for one week.  We do what we can when her husband has to go to work.

Our daughter has missed only one soccer game this year......the day of her surgery. 

On Monday she had her third treatment and phoned later that night to ask about going to Tuesday's game.  We said we were ready and then Kristina said she wanted to go too.  When we arrived at the house, she was dressed and ready to go.  She sat in the front with her Dad to direct him to the field.  When she went to carry her chair to the sidelines, her youngest chirped up "You aren't allowed to carry that cause its heavy."  When Dad was ready, he carried her chair to the sidelines and there she sat for the entire game. Her daughter carried it back to the car for her, cause poor Dad was carrying the chair that I broke. 

She wouldn't take her meds before the game as they make her sleepy.  She didn't want to miss anything.  She has never complained about anything.  She goes for treatments, puts in one very miserable week, then goes back to work for 2 weeks and then does the same routine all over again.

Next week, is the last game of the season.  After the game, we are all going out for ice cream.  Kristina and I will share one just like we did one other night. 

I am very very proud of our daughter.  She is my hero. 

These are for you "Smidge"......one of your favourite flowers.