Nursing School

“Jenna I have some bad news.”
"Yes", I replied.
“Well Nono has cancer and we don’t know how long it will be.”
"WHAT!"
 My tears were running down my face even before my mother could finish her sentence. When my grandpa was 68 years old he was diagnosed with throat cancer. I had never been so shocked or upset. I looked over at the table when my mother told me and I saw my grandpa look on his face, it was devastating. He sat there holding a rosary and hugging me. I will always remember the rosary he brought everywhere he went, for example the doctor’s office. The rosary was blue, lots of beads, and extra long.  He would hold the rosary in both of his hands, shacking, crying, and confused.

My mother couldn’t even try to begin to explain what cancer was to my grandpa. At the time I was studying biology and I had a good understanding of cancer and how it works. Through my grandpa’s broken English it was a challenge to explain what cancer is. My mother left it up to me to work with him and do my best to give my grandpa an idea. My mom had enough on her plate to deal with, this was the least I could do. My grandpa needed me and I was willing to help.

My grandpa would ask me, “Jenna what is this thing called cancer?” As I looked down and try to come up with words to say to make him understand, I saw his piebald skin and it worried me. He would smile at me with his white teeth, but they were fake because he had denchers. He had very high cheekbones and his eyes were sunken in, he also had very thick laugh lines due to his astonishing personality. It was so hard to tell him this horrible disease when he was such a good person. It made me sick to my stomach to see him look more and more anorexic everyday. On top of that, he was bald due to all his treatments.

 I would try to explain to him that it’s when abnormal cells divide uncontrollably and can invade nearby tissues. Cancer cells can also spread to other parts of the body through the blood. Then he would ask me “Jenna what is a cell?” It was so hard for me to explain to him what this is about. He only had an education up to 8^th grade and never took a science course. I tired to explain it as basic as I could. But his limited vocabulary made it very hard to comprehended

            My grandpa is very distinctive due to his culture. He was born in Italy and married my grandma, Nilde. They had two kids, my mother and my uncle. He moved to America to find a better job and brought his family with him. Victor kept the Italian culture in the family. The household spoke Italian, ate Italian food and kept traditions. As my brothers and I grew up our grandpa was a huge part of my lives, and we would spend every weekend with them. At one point they lived with us for a couple of years. I never met someone who was so caring for his family always put others first.

The next question he asked me “Jenna what is a cell?” I told him, “The basic structural and functional unit in people and all living things. Cells keep you alive and cancer is killing the cells”. For months I would keep trying to explain to him what cancer is. He could not figure out what it was that was killing him. He couldn’t wrap his mind around something he just couldn’t see. He had a very aggressive from of cancer. By the age of 73, my grandpa passed away from cancer.

By educating my grandpa and watching him go through what he did made me realize how important it is to stay healthy and to learn what different diagnoses really are and how severe they can be. He had a huge impact on my life and it will carry on with me. There is not a day that goes by where I do not think about my grandparents and recognize what they have taught me. My goal is to work in the medical field, helping as many people as I can and educate people as well. I could not see myself doing anything else. I have a lot of love for people and really care about putting others first. I watched both of my grandparents go through medical struggles, which has influenced me to achieve my goals.