Well to begin with my name is Beth, I'm 28, single mom of four beautiful children. My children are my life, and when I say that I don't just mean my day is filled with being a parent. If it was not for my children I would not be here today to tell you my story.

Three years ago I was diagnosed with Cancer. At that time I had everything I could ever have wished for in life. I had a husband that I loved with all my heart, I had four healthy children, a great job, a big beautiful house, and I can honestly say I was happy. The day I went to the doctor due to not feeling very well, having a lot of stomach pain and nausea. After a long day of testing and waiting, it was discovered that I had a growth on my stomach. They did a biopsy the next morning and it was discovered to be cancer. I did a lot of research to find out what I was up against. Only to find out that stomach cancer doesn't normally occur in patients my age. Usually it only happens to men over the age of 40, and some women over 50. After sitting down with my family and having that dreaded talk for any parent, my mother and I came up with how I ended up with this. In my family there is a history of Cancer and Heart disease. I have lost three of my grandparents to Cancer in the past three years. When I was 15 years old I had a bleeding ulcer. The doctor who was taking care of me at that time did not believe my mother or me. He treated me with Tagment and sent me on my way telling me not to eat spicy food and take my medicine. Well The medicine made my stomach hurt even worse. After a while it got better and it was soon forgotten. Until the day I was diagnosed with Stomach Cancer. I spent the next six months of my life going through chemotherapy. This was the worst six months of my life. I lost almost everything that was dear to me, except for my children. They were the only people in my life who stuck by me through it everyday. My oldest who was only 5 at the time played nurse a lot. She was really good at getting washcloths for my head, wrapping me up in blankets when I was cold, getting me ice water when I was hot. She even learned how to take my blood pressure and take my temperature. The triplets who were 3 at the time spent a lot of time in bed with me….we would read, or color, or they would just watch cartoons while I slept. Due to the medicine I was on I was unable to take pain medication for the severe headaches and body aches I would get from the chemo drugs. So all of the kids would take turns brushing my hair, and rubbing my head to help the pain go away. They were the best medicine I could have asked for. My parents were there are much as they could be and my mother cooked a lot for us so that the kids would not starve. I ate very little those days, mainly chicken broth and rice. My husband could not handle it, we had to sell the house due to me not being able to work full time. He turned in to a complete jerk. Refuse to help me with the house, called me lazy when his needs were not taken care of, (clothes, dinner). It all came to a halt the night I almost bled to death on my own bathroom floor. I had woke up feeling very nauseous (which is normal), but I didn't have the energy or the strength to get out of bed and into the bathroom. After getting sick and I realized I was throwing up blood, I tried to wake my husband up but he told me I was over reacting and leave him alone. Some how I am still not sure how, I crawled into the bathroom and I must have passed out for awhile, I woke up it was almost daylight, and I was lying in the bathroom floor covered in blood. Only thing I could think of was that I didn't want to die and my children finding me like this. From somewhere I got the strength to find a phone and call 911, then I threw the phone and hit my husband with it. He woke up and seen me, and after the shock wore, I was able to tell him to call my parents and get the kids out of here now. He took the kids to his parents before my ambulance got there (we lived in the country). After a week stay in the hospital, and surgery that removed half my stomach, I went home to my children. And it has been just them and me ever since. That is the same day I turned my life around and started living my life for my children and myself. People have came and left in our life, but I have yet to find anyone that will treat my children or me in the way that we deserve.

Since my divorce the kids and I have moved around a lot, trying to figure out where we belong. I have had one set back with the cancer, a small growth was found in the summer of 2001. We were living in KC Missouri at the time and my family were 200 miles away and could not help. So I researched my choices and underwent laser surgery and am now on oral chemotherapy. I have to take this drug everyday for the next 5 years.

So here we are today, My life is starting to get back to normal. I live with my children in SW Missouri. We have a great house that we rent. The kids are doing wonderful. My oldest is now in the Einstein program at school, and the triplets are in 1^st grade and doing wonderful. I still dread going to the doctor, scared of hearing I/m no longer in remission that it has came back. But that is something I am dealing with and always will. I don't let it get me down I am living for today and making everyday count.

I don't think of myself as a very religious person, but my grandmother told me something a long time ago that I have always remembered: God will not hand you anything in life that he doesn’t think you can handle. & Every set back in life will only make you stronger. And you know what I am stronger today then I was 3 years ago.