A second chance is like the beginning of a new life. It is a lifeline for someone who is on the edge of the earth. It’s a feather floating through the air, and whoever it may land on may just be the luckiest person in the world. These miracles come in all different shapes, colors, forms, and ideas. It can be as simple as getting a chance to re-submit a homework, doing a drill a second time in a sport, becoming sober after years of being an alcoholic, or the near to impossible: beating cancer. And my mom is doing just that, beating cancer.

My mom’s name is Ellen Carey, born on August 12, 1954, the first of two sisters. She had a conventional life, I’d say. Not that your parents getting divorced is the normality, but it happens often more that not. Her family was one of many that experienced the emptiness and broken heartiness from the strain of having one parent. She’s been through her fair share of rough times, but I don’t think anything could have strengthened her for what would come next.

When my mom started experiencing stomach pains at my Penn State 8v8 soccer tournament before our last game, I was worried. My dad took her to the hospital, fearing her appendix was going to burst. The doctor said nothing was wrong but scheduled a date to remove her appendix, and her reproductive organs. Summer passed quickly, and the date of the surgery was coming up, and my Dad drove my mom to a hospital in Pittsburgh. I stayed at a friend’s for 5 days. To be honest I wasn't too worried about her. I didn’t know enough about surgery, and still don’t, to be too worried about things going wrong. Finally, on Friday September 9th, two days after the surgery, I got a call from my dad saying my mom was out of surgery. She wasn’t in any pain, but she was acting funny from the painkillers. She answered the phone in a deep, sleepy voice, which scared me a little. She sounded so out of it, and every time I said something, there was 3 seconds of silence before she began to speak again. The conversation went on with her saying things like, “I stamped all your invitations for you honey”, and “Tell Dad I said ‘Hi’”, even with my dad standing right next to her and my birthday not for another month and a half. I soon said goodbye with a stupefied, but meaningful as ever, “I love you.”

The next I heard of her or my dad was that Sunday. My dad called and decided he was picking me up earlier than we had planned. I waited for his arrival. I got in the car and greeted my him, he looked worn out and tired, but looked at me with love in his eyes. “Hi hun, love you”, he says, wearing his half smile that means he has alot on his mind. “Hi dad,” I said cautiously. He asks me how I am, and for a while, we make small talk. We’re about halfway home, when he grabs my hand and says,"Now before I tell you what's going on, I want you to know your Mom is alright. She's in good care and every thing's going to be fine. When they removed the organs from your mother they found her ovaries had cancer cells in them. They also had to remove a six inch section of her colon that was cancerous. In about 4 weeks she's gonna go through chemotherapy to get rid of the rest of the cancer cells floating around in her stomach.” I’m completely shocked, and my jaw drops, and I don’t know what to think. It’s weird how sometimes if you don’t think about something, it happens, but if you do think about it, then it doesn’t happen. I know it’s preposterous but I wish the idea of my Mom having cancer would have crossed my mind before, so it wouldn’t have happened. I know it’s unreasonable, but right now I’m thinking of all the reasons it shouldn’t happen. But maybe that’s the problem. Maybe I should think of the reasons why it should happen. It should happen because I’m strong person, or at least I try to be. And I think this will bring together my family more than I’ve ever thought possible. All this is running through my mind, and just at the right time, my Dad says,” I don't want you to worry about her because she is completely curable, and the doctors are gonna get rid of all of the cancer cells. These next couple of months are gonna be rough but were gonna get through them as a family". I’m so thankful for his words of truth, but I can't help myself; of course I'm going to worry about her, she’s my mom.

That Monday at school was a hard one, yet I think it did me some good. It was comforting to see my friends and get my mind off of the stress at home, but I’m not one to pretend every thing’s okay and I could not stop myself from thinking of the months ahead, and trips every weekend to the Pittsburgh hospital. I was feeling really stressed out with soccer, some of my friends becoming distant and drifting away from me, not understanding my math work quite yet, and on top of it all, my mom having cancer. I know I may just be freaking myself out over all of his and making a bigger deal than necessary; Even if the doctor says the cancer is curable, what if they miss a few cells and it spreads through her body, what if it's too late and it already has? But I can’t stress over the unknown, all I know is what happened to my Mom is a miracle, and I’m glad it happened.

My Mom was given a second chance the day they caught the cancer. They caught it early enough to be treatable and cure her body for the time being. And sometimes that's all you can ask for, all you can pray for, is a second chance.