Wolfe was diagnosed with astrocytomas in the brain and major glioma in the spine at 4 years old. He is stable and on the road to remission, with his chemo completed and MRIs to monitor his progress.
What’s one thing you wish you had known in those first 48 hours?
“I wish I had known that I was spending the last days with the person I used to be. I was never the same after it and sometimes I miss that version of me. I wish I could give her a hug and tell her that she was gonna get through it and that she did nothing to cause this. I wish I could hold that version of myself. I felt so alone and so afraid.”
What helped you the most in those first 48 hours?
“Having people with us at the hospital. My mom and my dad were there and I had so many moments where I would just look at them from across the room and an entire conversation was had in silence between two people. I cared for my baby and my parents cared for their baby, and it got me through the most hellish days of my life.”
What’s is one moment in those first 48 hours that you’ll never forget?
“I remember being crammed into some tiny room in the hospital and the doctor said “at this time we do believe we are looking at brain cancer.“ I just remember looking at this doctor‘s face, scanning it for some kind of clue that I was dreaming or this wasn’t really happening to me, but what I found instead was a true moment of humanity. This doctor was just a person like me and I could tell that this is not fun for them and in that moment, I just felt like I was connected to every other human on this earth in a way. It was a really fleeting moment and it never happened again, but I really am grateful for it.”
If you could go back, what’s one thing you’d tell yourself?
“It won’t feel like this forever. This will get easier, but it will never get easy. People are about to disappoint you and break your heart and people are about to hold you and save your life at the same time. Just love that little boy and have faith in yourself and your own strength to get him through this.”
This First 48 story was submitted by Sarah.