Observing My Father

It took me one hundred and ninety two months to realize the unprecedented influence my father made on my life. My father, George Dean is who I credit my accomplishments and success after, both inside the classroom and everyday life. It was at one hundred and twenty months that I began the journey that would allow me to understand the significance my father has played in my life today. It was fifth grade when I learned that my father has been diagnosed with cancer and the tedious trips to the hospital began. With each passing month and hospital trip I unknowingly learned lessons about life that I would not understand until later. Observing my father battle cancer has taught me many life lessons that can only be learned from first hand experience and the impact he made on my life by doing so has shaped me today.
When my father first told me he has cancer I was very angry, and as a ten year old child I did not know how to handle it.
The first thing my father taught me was that life can be unfair at times and the best way to handle it is by doing more and being better than the situation you are in. Doing so my father and I began to work out and eat healthier which is a recommendation his doctor made. At this same time it was clear that the cancer was taking a toll on his body, but he kept pushing on and displaying to me, a young child that fortitude is the only way to keep going in life. Helping the same man who taught me how to walk, walk into a hospital is a task that I found very difficult and hard to grasp. The disease not only affects a patient but also takes a toll on the family around them. Being mentally tough through the stages of my father's cancer is one of the greatest lessons I could have learned from
him.
Undoubtedly, going through the trauma of watching an unforgiving disease as cancer take a parent at a young age has made me far more independent than my peers. Not only that, in the midst of losing my father I learned to balance my school work and play sports while handling the everyday challenges of life. When I think of all the pain and suffering my father went through while battling cancer I can only see the good that he brought out. In him each day I saw enduring qualities of strength courage and hope. My father gives me an example of how to face adversity without silking or complaining. Today I use his examples that he showed me on a day to day when I face hard task at school that seem very daunting. Mentally I am prepared to do what it takes to complete the task, the strength to finish it well, the courage to not fail and the hope that I am doing the best that I can with the task. The mindset that my father taught me is translated in my work and life. At one hundred and ninety two months, I finally realized the impact my father made in my life and that is the gifts of strength, courage and hope he gave me in his fight against cancer.