A Tribute to My Aunt

My Aunt J had breast cancer back in 1996. They gave her radiation treatments, and that put her into remission -- for 24 years. Last September, she told me that they had found another spot on her mammogram. They were going to do surgery to remove the spot and possibly do chemotherapy after that. It seemed like it would all be okay. But it wasn't. 

Scans showed that she had cancer in her lungs and ribs at that time. So, they cancelled the surgery and started chemotherapy. She was diagnosed with stage 4 metastatic breast cancer. I knew this wasn't good, but I had hoped that they could contain the cancer and prolong her life. 

I won't go into all the nitty gritty details here, but as the months progressed, the cancer spread like wildfire, and none of the chemo treatments they tried (they tried three different kinds!) did anything to slow it down or stop the spread. 

Sadly, my aunt lost her life to the cancer yesterday morning at 7:32am. The end sounded just horrid. I am so sad she is gone, but I m happy she is not in so much pain or suffering anymore. She was only 76. She was taken too soon, in my opinion, but God must have needed her for something. 

My aunt did not want anyone to make a fuss over her death. I am writing this tribute in an effort to give myself some closure and to honor her memory. I hope that she understands that this is my way of saying good-bye.