Jessie’s Battle with Cancer and the Role of the Tiger Lily

“I am sorry ma’am, but the test results show that you have Ovarian Cancer. We will do everything that we can to help you, but it looks as if the cancer may have spread.” Those were the words that had ended Jessie’s life as she had known it.

Those words had been spoken three days ago and she still hadn’t been able to get herself out of bed. It was hard for her to get the motivation to live when she was basically told that she was going to die. Finally after a long week of sulking, Jessie decided to fight for her life instead of letting it get taken from her. She did have a daughter and husband that desperately needed her. She owed it to them to get better.

“Good morning!” Jessie said to her beautiful family as she made her way downstairs that morning.

“Hi mommy, how are you feeling? Do you still hurt?” Sierra, her four year old daughter, asked with concern.

“No ma’am I do not! And don’t worry because mommy is going to be fine. I could never leave my family behind; especially when mommy is so much better at making pancakes than daddy is.” Jessie said, throwing a wink at her husband, John. This statement made Sierra so happy that she jumped off the chair, ran to her momma, and gave her a huge hug. Joined by John, this family hug was just the thing that she needed to carry on and go to work at the salon.

After getting Sierra off to preschool and giving John a kiss goodbye, she headed to work. They had given her time off for as long as she needed for obvious reasons, but she decided that she needed to work to keep her mind off of all the stress in her life.

When she arrived at the salon she was greeted by her amazing friend, Ally.

“Hey girl! I am so glad that you came in today because we are booked up all week and we could definitely use your expertise. Oh, and by the way, these got delivered for you.” Ally said while handing Jessie some beautiful Tiger Lilies. Jessie’s first instinct was to ask who dropped them off, but instead she look at the card.

“Jessie, Just as the Tiger Lily represents strength and ferocity; you are strong and can only rise to the top and conquer this disease. ~ With Love, John”

With tears in her eyes she set the flowers down and got to work. Being at work was great for her; she could keep her mind off of all the chaos in her life. To her customers, she was just a hairdresser cutting their hair and making conversation to pass the time. It helped to feel normal and not have anyone walking on eggshells around her. When 5 o’clock hit, she finished up her last haircut, told Ally that she would see her tomorrow, and headed home to her family.

When she got to the house she was surprised to see that her husband was home. Even more surprising was when she opened the door, dinner was already cooked and on the table. As she sat down at the dinner table she noticed that Tiger Lilies littered the entirety of the kitchen. When she asked John what it was about, he said that from now on they were going to be in every room as a reminder of how strong she was. With silence and some tears they all ate dinner.

With the coming weeks, Jessie grew weaker and weaker. Finally, it came time for her next doctor’s appointment and she was definitely nervous to find out the test results of whether or not the cancer had spread.

The doctor came in and immediately started speaking, “Well it looks like the cancer did not spread so you are in the clear on that one. It does look as if we are going to have to remove both ovaries as well as your fallopian tubes though. This surgery is going to have to be done pretty soon and the recovery process can take a few months since you will have to have Chemotherapy afterwards.” With all of this information hitting so quickly she tried to remember the Lilies that John had been keeping around the house. He was right; she was strong and she definitely wasn’t going to let this ruin the life that she had planned for their beautiful family.

“Okay doc, I will be ready for the surgery whenever you need me to be. Let’s get this fight going, because I sure as Hell am not going to let this cancer win!” Jessie proclaimed quite proudly to the doctor. After about half of an hour of instruction on how to get ready for the surgery and what to expect afterwards, Jessie and her family left the office with hope that life wouldn’t be cut short for their family.

A few days later Jessie, John, and Sierra were all at the hospital waiting for Jessie to be taken into surgery. John had really wanted to be by Jessie’s side, but he knew that he did not have anyone to watch Sierra for him. Jessie had assured him that everything was going to be okay and he had to be strong for Sierra and keep her mind off of everything, so he had decided that keeping her mind off of her mommy’s surgery was exactly what he was going to do.

“Jessie Sorenson? We are ready to prep you for surgery.” A blonde nurse said with a hopeful smile.

“Give me a second please.” She said. “John, Sierra; everything is going to be okay. Remember that mommy is a fighter and I will not let anyone or anything take me away from you guys. Sierra, daddy is going to take you to a movie and for some ice cream and then when you guys are done I should be out of surgery. I love you both very much.” After hugging and kissing both of them she followed the nurse into the back. She knew that the surgery was going to work; it had to work. There was no way that she could leave her family. They needed her and she needed them.

After they finished prepping her for surgery she was sent to her room to get ready for the Anesthesiologist. The surgery took a little bit more time than had been expected, but when she woke up in recovery she knew that everything was going to be okay. She knew this because when she looked up she found a reminder of the fact that she was strong; she found a beautiful girl and handsome man asleep in the chair and a gorgeous bouquet of Tiger Lilies resting on the table beside her.


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