However all of the above is way to picture perfect. And about two year ago from now our lifes came crashing down when we realized that Andrea had Cancer. She had found a lump in her leg and we had all seen it and thought it would have just been a lump of tissue or a abscess. She finally went to the doctors and was refered to the hospital were she went for a number of visits and had found out that the lump had been cancerous. It was a pure shock and i will never forget the day when i got a phone call from my dad telling me the news i could hear the pure devistaion in his voice and i was in total dis-belief. She was so young and had two young daughters and my dad was finally happy....i just thought no this can't be happening to us.
Andrea was a true fighter and she completed session after session of kemo therapy, she started almost straight away after she got the terrible news. She then had a further operation that they believed removed all of the cancer that the kemo had not been able to shrink. She spent alot of time in and out of the hospital and my dad was by her side every step of the way and all of her family helped alot with the care of her children and the house work. After the operation it was a very long recovery process in fact i don't think she ever fully recovered. She was left with a very swollen leg and a small hole in the back of her knee as that is were the cancer was taken out from....but that was nothing compared to the fact that we all thought she may never be able to walk again. We also knew that during the operation she may have had to have had her leg amputated. But Andrea the strong willed person that she is she was not fazed by the chance that she may wake up from this with only one leg, as she openly said to the surgeon just do everything and anything you can to get this cancer out of my body. When she returned home, they re-arranged the house and she had a bedroom made for her down stairs as she would not of been able to get up and down the stairs to get to bed every night. And she had nurses come and visit her twice a day to change her dressing and assist her. Her daughters and my dad were great to her as expected and they did everything they could to make her feel comftable. They became full time carers for her in there own ways. Over the months the nurses visits got fewer her leg got slightly smaller and she was able to leave the house in a wheel chair. She was so strong through out all of this and she was determined that she would make a full recovery.
She eventually began to walk small distances with two crutches and her hair grew back very slowly which she was over the moon about. She was a very strong person inside and out but you could see that this had affected her hugely as it would anyone. Before this happened she was a very talented hair dresser and she ran her own business from home, she would socialize often with her friends and family as they are very close and her and my dad would go away to festivals and enjoy each others company on a daily basis just as happy couples do. Her life has changed dramatically she now can no longer work so she had to give up her business, she had to reliy on other people for most things which she hated as she is a very independent person, she can no longer drive, do her own shopping or washing. She was now disabled. But she managed she had a close net work of friends and family that all helped as much as they possibly could.
Soon things were looking up she was looking and feeling better within her self..and she was starting to go out more even if it was just to the shopping market by taxi as it was to far for her to walk. She was then able to move back up stairs with my dad in her bedroom again, and with all that her confidence was shinning through again. She was regularly going for check ups at the doctors and hospital and about a year ago from now she got the all clear that she was clear of cancer..This was a huge relief for everyone and from then on Andrea still progressed to get better at a slow and steady pace. At christmas i decided to spend my time with her and my dad and for everyone she was close to it was the best Christmas gift anyone could have asked for she was free from the horrible disease that destroys so many people life's. We celebrated and Andrea made an emotional speech and so did her mother Jill to thank everyone for all the help and support that they had given her.
Life after christmas continued to look up for Andrea and if anyone deserved it, it was her. My dad and her went on many romantic weekends away to london and Bristol and they were truely happy again. When i left for the states in February i was so happy that she was on the mend and that her and my dad would be just fine i knew he would look after her. I missed them alot but spoke to them on the phone regularly. Time was flying by and before i new it i was going home for a visit in july i was so exited to see them. I noticed a huge change in Andrea she was almost back to her normal self she looked glowing and just beautiful and she had hair on her head. I loved my time that i spent with them and it was not a sad good bye as thankfully my job allowed me to be back in August for another visit.
Before i knew it i was back on the plane to England. This time around i spent the first week of my holiday back at home with my mum and family and friends in Devon. It was during this time that it all changed.
At the beginning of the week my dad called me and we arranged a date that i would be coming up to see him, he sounded very happy that i would be visiting. But he also mentioned that Andrea had been a little down recently and he said i am hoping that you visiting and being company for her whilst i am work and the kids are at school every day will cheer her up. I was sad to hear that, but was looking ford to seeing her again. Dad also said that she was feeling sick alot and that she had not been able to keep her food down. But we all put that down to her tablets and medicine that she had been taking as she had been taking so much medication it was un-real that the human body could physically take in that much.
Any way i didn't think about it to much and it was two days before i was about to visit that i got a phone call from my dad. The call started out as it normally would he asked how i am and what i had been doing, but his voice tone was a little more nervous and hesitant as normal he sounded upset. So i said Dad are you ok he said Lacey i have got some bad news for you. So i assumed it would be a member of our family had died possibly a great auntie or uncle that i don't see much. I could not have been more wrong, it was something much closer to home, "its andrea the cancer is back" my face dropped and i did not know what to say so he carried on and said "it has spread to her lungs" it must have been like talking to a brick wall for him as i was not speaking neither was i crying i was in pure shock. So what will they do i finally managed to say? This time round dad was the one that was hesitant in talking "well lacey he said" in a more serious tone "they can not operate this time the only thing that they can do it give her kemo therapy that should shrink the cancer" i still did not know what to say but by this time i was fighting back the tears so dad continued to speak.."it is not curable..They can not remove the cancer this time due to were it is...It is to close to her vital organs". I was just staring at the wall and thinking about how upset they must have all been when they found out. Unlike them i was the only member of that side of the family in Devon so i was going to have to deal with this on my own. "Are you ok lacey" dad said he repeated himself "lace are you ok" he knew that i wasn't but he must off felt he had to ask and get a positive answer before he could end the phone call. "yes" i said quietly, why i said that i don't know as i was far from ok. "He ended the call by saying "are you with anyone at the moment" i wasn't but my best friend was due over anytime, he said "thats ok then" and said "i will call you later on lace i love you". The second i put the phone down, i sank to the floor and burst into tears i don't think i have ever felt that much hurt before. I did not move and for at least 15 minutes i just sat there curled up looking at the blank wall from the bathroom floor. Just as i managed to pull my self up the front door opened and olivia walked in..."what's wrong" was the first thing she said, i said nothing and the tears came flooding out, "lacey what is it" she said sounding more stern this time. Its Andrea i wailed her cancer is back with that she opened her arms and we hugged. For that hole afternoon it felt like my world had been turned up side down and i knew that in my mind i was thinking the worse. Later that day my auntie had called which i knew my dad would have asked her to do to check on me, this time i did not cry i just wanted to know more about what the doctors and nurses had said i didn't want her to miss out any information. After a long explanation my auntie asked "you are still coming up to stay with your dad and andrea though aren't you" i was not sure wither i could face it but i plucked up the courage to say said yes, I thought about seeing her alot over the next couple of days before the visit and i played over and over again in my mind not what i wanted to say but what would i say, and i thought about how i would stop my self from crying.
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