Here is the perspective from my sister's point of view during the long 7-8 months of the battle. We were all being tortured by this disease, but in different ways.
Hello! My name is Maddie Bushman (Emily’s sister). I am currently a senior in high school planning on attending West Virginia University in the fall. When my sister asked me if I wanted to write something for her blog, I got a bit nervous. There was no way I could write something as well as her. I’m not very good at expressing how I felt through this journey to others, but I am hoping I can give you a glimpse into what life was like during this time.
When Emily first started to get sick, I just thought it was nothing. A cold maybe, or the flu. Anything but cancer. As my parents and sister were going to doctors appointments, I was going to school. I felt totally out of the loop. When they told me it was cancer I was in complete denial. There was no way. I’ve heard stories about cancer but never did I think it would affect a family member. I remember sitting at the doctor's appointment when they told us about what the next couple of months would look like. This was by far the worst day ever. Everything was being taken away from her. Her last summer as a college student, her senior year would be cut short, her hair, eating out, her ability to have children was being jeopardized. All because of cancer!! The disease that she spent years spreading awareness about, helping our families organization and helping CV Mini-THON raise money to go towards Four Diamonds, the organization that tries to conquer childhood cancer. She was and still is so passionate about this cause, it just didn’t make sense to me. Why did it have to be her? While nobody should ever have to battle cancer, if it was going to be someone in our family who would beat cancer it would be her. She is by far the strongest, most courageous person I know. No matter what pain she was having, how tired she was, how long these 8 months were. She never gave up. She was always positive. Always fierce. She may have been tired of fighting but she never showed it and as much as I tried to be there for her and get her through this fight, she was the one that held our family together and got us through it. She was doing amazing things before she had cancer and still is. Her blog is helping other young adults around her age battle cancer. She is such an inspiration to me and I hope one day I can be half the person she is. You don't know what strong is until you’ve met someone who is/was battling cancer. Em, YOU ARE STRONG and YOU DID BEAT CANCER! I am so glad to call you my sister and I will fight just as hard as you did to end cancer. Nobody and no family should have to go through this alone.
This past year I was honored with being chosen for a leadership position for CV Mini-THON. This is a year long fundraiser that raises money to go towards Four Diamonds, an organization that aims to conquer childhood cancer. We have multiple events throughout the year to raise money. Our biggest event is this Friday into Saturday where kids from our school stay overnight for 12 hours and play games, hear stories from families that battled pediatric cancer, and show their support for this cause. This year is extremely special to me because I am able to help give back to the organization that helped and supported my family so much. Please consider helping me reach my goal and donating to my donordrive! FTK!!
