Owen was diagnosed with a brain mass on March 15th 2015. We went to the Children’s Hospital just expecting to do an MRI to see that everything was fine and that Owen’s primary care doctor was wrong about his head size. When we got to the hospital even the doctor said “we will do an MRI but nothing is wrong with your son” so we were planning our day as he went back to for the MRI.
When we went back to the room for the results, I could tell something was up. The doctor came in and just looked at me and said, “ I don’t know how to tell you this but your son has a mass on his brain and we have to admit you.” My world was turned upside down. Not only was I not expecting this in a million years, every part of my body felt like it shattered. I just remember crying every night.
We were probably in the hospital for 3 weeks waiting for a plan, when one day after we were wandering the hospital floors, we came back to our room and there was a backpack waiting on Owen’s bed. It said Bags of Fun. I just remember in that moment thinking how amazing this was. To everyone else this was just a bag filled with toys to keep Owen busy in the hospital but to me it was more. It made me think that someone packing this bag was thinking of my son. They probably had no idea what we were going through, the pain, the heartbreak and to receive this bag gave us smiles. Our son could be a kid and play with toys and they were just for him. We love our backpack too, we now use it as Owen’s diaper bag because it just reminds me that people out there do care about these kids with cancer and just this thoughtful gesture means the world to families like mine when you’re alone and sad in the hospital. It actually brings a smile in a time of darkness.
