Quilt for Surviving

How does it feel when you are told your only parent has cancer, and you fear they may die?

This book is about what happened when our mother was told she had serious breast cancer. Everyone thinks they know what it would be like if someone in their family got sick, and how others would react. As we discovered, however, no one knows quite how bad it really is until it hits his or her own family. The hatred and spite that we, and our whole family, had to endure, simply because our mother was sick, was a complete shock to us all. By going through this difficult experience as young children, my brother and I grew in many ways. It opened our eyes to the effects that sickness can have on everyone in a person's family, especially children, who do not fully understand what is happening and feel afraid and alone.

My name is Brittney Lewis, and I am seventeen years old. I am in the 11th grade at Skyline West School in Peoria, Arizona. I recently had the honor of being crowned Miss Teen Arizona Tropics. I am proud to say this, as it demonstrates that I am a positive role model who has never buckled to peer pressure. I do not do drugs, I do not drink, and I believe in waiting to have sex until I am much older. I truly believe in these values, and I hope I can help others also live their lives as strong characters with these moral standards.

My younger brother is Jordan Lewis. He is fourteen years old. He also attends Skyline West, and like me, he has resisted much peer pressure to become involved in drugs and drinking.

Our mother has always taught us to be leaders, not followers, to be true to our beliefs, and to do what is morally right. We have always done this, always staying positive and trying to improve our lives and those of others around us. We have filled our lives only with positive people who share these values, so that we can support each other.

I was thirteen years old when I wrote this book, and my brother Jordan was just ten years old. Through this story, you will see how our mother's sickness affected us and her other of four children in different ways. We hope that by reading this, more people will truly understand what it is like to have a parent with cancer, and that fewer children will go through this feeling as if they are alone.