It’s easy to see why parenting and paranoia go hand in hand. Between bullying, natural disasters, stranger danger, and suicide, parents have a lot to contend with when it comes to protecting their offspring from the world’s perils.
However, just when you thought you’ve reached your capacity for worrying, along comes yet another reason to fret. The latest concern for parents with young children: being diagnosed with cancer… just nine days after your spouse is given the same news.
It seems unthinkable, right?
Wrong.
Just ask Nathan and Elisa Bond, who made headlines recently when they were both diagnosed with advanced cancer within a few days of each other.
Think about that for a minute.
Imagine living life as usual with your main concern being that your 18-month-old daughter reaches all her major milestones and doesn’t dart into traffic during your next walk to the park. Then, one day your world comes crashing down after your spouse is unexpectedly diagnosed with Stage III rectal cancer. Just when you wrap your brain around the possibility that you’ll have to raise your child alone should your spouse lose his battle with the insidious disease, you find a lump in your breast and are told that it is Stage IV metastatic breast cancer, and the disease has already spread throughout your body.
Beyond unthinkable; yet oh so real for the Bond family of New York.
One of a parent’s worst nightmares is dying and leaving behind young children they barely got to know. I can’t imagine the utter torment the Bonds are facing right now.
According to New York Daily News, 38-year-old Nathan was diagnosed with his cancer last month. At the time doctors told him he had a 60 percent chance of surviving five years. As for 36-year-old Elisa, the news is much graver. Doctors told her that her cancer has engulfed so much of her body that she has less than a 20 percent chance of seeing her daughter turn six.
Despite being diagnosed with incurable cancer, Elisa tells the paper that she stays positive for the sake of her only child.
“I wanted to grow old with my husband and care for our daughter,” the devoted mother told reporters. “Now I’m just hoping for a miracle.”
You can learn more about the Bonds on their website. One visit and I guarantee you that your concern that your child will never sleep through the night, never stop sucking his thumb, or never graduate from high school, will fade—-fast.