{cancer}

Just the word alone is ugly. It's something you think will always happen to someone else. So when my mom called me to see if she could come over to talk, the last thing I expected was to have her tell me she had cancer.

Breast cancer.

The most aggressive kind.

The world stood still for us as a family. All kinds of questions going through all of our heads. Me, especially, wondering if my sweet little baby was going to know his grandma. Suddenly, it made so much sense why it felt so right to stay in Utah.

I talk about everything as if it's all better and the threat is gone. It's not. She still has chemo and radiation ahead which will both be long roads. But she had surgery yesterday and did wonderfully. Also, the surrounding lymph nodes were negative for cancer... a very good thing!

My mom is one of the most positive people I know. She has handled everything with class and humor, between the occasional tears, of course. And we have all been very touched by the outpouring of love and support from friends and family. We have grown closer as a family as we have united strong against the cancer. But we are still scared silly to lose our Matriarch. She is the glue that holds this family together and the one everyone goes to when they need some reassurance and love.

She is going to beat this. We just know it :)

If you would like to follow along with her progress, my dad has created a blog for journal entries and stories. The link is on the sidebar and is titled, "The Merrells". 

We love you mom!