My dad, what a character!

As I lost my mom at age fifteen to this disease (see previous post, link below), it was me and my dad stuck together like pees and carrots. We grew very close, because we had to take care of eachother.
We were both a mental wreck and in need of each others support.
Especially for my dad, this first years were a living hell, he not only lost his wife, but also all financial security. The "miracle" doctor that helped ease my moms symptoms from the chemo and her disease cost my dad about a house or two. It was mentally very hard on him to realize that you lost all the financial freedom and stability at the age of 45, just to help you wife with her disease. I sensed that very strongly, in a period in which I should have been able to discover my self and life. I was worried all the time about my dad and how we would survive financially.
Luckily he was a strong fellow, he fought and worked his ass of. The extra mortgages he took were a struggle, but slowly they were paid off with hard work.
The down side to that was that I had to learn to take care of my self at a very young age. Cooking, ironing, washing, and study at the same time, it was a battle sometimes. But together we got through this.

After college, I worked together with my dad as an insurance broker independently. We gradually became bigger and bigger, and the financial stress of 15 years earlier was almost gone.
Then lightning was back, hard and fiercefull as lightning is.
February 2012, I will never forget that moment, my dad had had some problems with his eyesight. He went to a few doctors, but nobody exactly found what it was... Until a brain scan gave the verdict.
An astrocytoma in his brain was pushing against his eye nerve, it must have been growing there for a few years and now it was almost 7 centimeters in diameter. My dad had a braintumor! Just like that, at age 59, just a year before he could have gone on a well deserved pension.

(me and my dad in better days in Guadaloupe)

Stage 3, was the clear verdict.
An operation and heavy radiation on the back of his skull for 60 days.
The operation was very tricky, he could become blind from it, or even lose his balance... or just die...

Thanks to a very good surgeon, almost everything of the tumor could be removed. His balance was a little off, but that was not so bad. But then came a true hell for him.
60 days of radiation straight on his skull. It was a real torture.
Everyday he came back home with 2nd degree burns on his forehead and ears from the heat of the lead helmet that he wore during the radiation.
It also gave him epilepsy attacks, which is very scary to endure at that age.

Those two months passed and now came the fear. Will it come back? When? How?
I was very worried, as I had read the prognosis for astrocytoma is very bad. In 98 % of the cases, it comes back within 2 years and the patient dies maximum 6 months later...

But as we were hardened in life allready, we got through this period with ups and downs. I allready did the brokerage firm on my own. A lot earlier than planned. But that's life, you take it as it comes.

Suddenly the 2 years had passed, it hadn't come back. We got faith, and were letting the fear go slowly.
3 months later, lightning was there again. It was back! And how!
It was in his brain, liver, lungs, bones, just like that.

Now came his true struggle, he suffered enormous pains. But wanted no morphine. He kept going to watch his favourite football team... Like a lion he fought.

But in the beginning of februari 2015 he suddenly couldn't remember his own name anymore.
It was terrible to watch. The cancer had eaten his brain like a parasite.
3 and half weeks later he died, looking 25 years older than his age at age 62.

He was my buddy and my father, not many people had a relationship with their dad like me.
That's why I write this and want to honour him.

For my dad, his favourite artist: Carlos Santana with "Black magic woman"

Why do this?

On february 25th it will be the third birthday of my dad's passing away.
As I was only 33 when both my parents we're gone, both to this monstrous illness called cancer. I am a person that is scarred badly by life and death. This has made me strong and fragile at the same time.
I am happy but the past is always present. I can never talk to them anymore. Never ask them for any help... At best I can talk to their pictures.
I have been there through the whole process of their illness, in different time frames, but have witnessed a lot of unnecessary suffering, both fysically and mentally. That is why I think it is time to do something back and maybe help other people in the future, so they don't need to go through some of the things me and my parents went through.
Therefor all SBD of these posts will be donated to the Belgian officially registered charity called: Kom op tegen kanker . They fund research, but more to my cause, help people that are confronted with this disease, in the right direction in many ways, financially, mentally and practically.
After these posts have been payed out (all SBD will be saved in my savings account here on Steemit!), I will donate it to them and will post the proof of the payment in another post.

So feel free to resteem this, and if you don't trust me, wel don't do it then.

Part 1 you can read here:
https://steemit.com/life/@pele23/i-lost-both-my-parents-to-cancer-my-time-to-do-something-back-to-the-cancer-patients-all-sbd-collected-by-these-posts-will-be

Special thanks to @surfermarly for giving me the courage to go through with this!

Sincerely,

Pele23