Over this past year my family has endured one of the worse things that have ever happened

to us and this is my mom’s Cancer. My mother was first diagnosed with Colon Cancer in February

22, 2019. At the time this came as a surprise to everyone and she had to be taken into surgery

right away because she had been diagnosed with a tumor of the size of a fist. The cancer cells

had already metastasized through some of her organs and well, that was the beginning of it all.

For Spring Break 2019 I went to visit my mom after her surgery and unfortunately she had to

be taken to the hospital to have surgery once more. The first surgery had gone wrong and at the

moment we did not know why that was, we just knew she needed to have another surgery. At

this point with me, her oldest daughter by her side she told me that she wanted me to be the

one to make all the decisions regarding her surgery but that she did not wanted to have surgery

in my hometown. In this situation I of course could not be the only one making the decisions but

I could be there for her to advise her and give support and guidance. Given this request by my

mom and in all honesty just my personality that tends to manage delicate situations such as this

one I started being the one interacting with the doctors and giving the information they’d give

me back to my family given that both my brother and my grandmother (my mom’s two closest

family members) were very distressed with the news of the need for a second surgery and

potential chemotherapy treatment.

My mom, my grandmother, and me travelled to Mexico City to Hospital Angeles de

Interlomas. As soon as we got to the hospital I was put in the middle of a situation on which I

personally had to deal with about 4 to 6 doctors in the room at the same time at least 5 times a

day and gather the information they were giving and transferring it to my family members and

our friends and family back home. This was a challenging task for me given the amount of
information that was given to me so fast and I had to understand and retain to subsequently

transfer it as well as making decisions. I also helped the nurses to care for my mom during the

week that I stayed at the hospital with her and never left her side so that I could be on top of all

the information that had to be explained to my family and to be there to support my mom in

case that she couldn’t grasp on what was going on because of her weak health and nerves. After

the surgery during my stay there I planned out with the doctors where it was that she would stay,

to have her post-surgery checkups and another evaluation before starting off her chemo

treatment.

After this week with my mom I went back to Rhode Island knowing that I had done everything

I could to help make the situation better for my mom and my family, and that the fact that I was

able to be on top of that situation while I was with them gave them and me peace and good

results.