Looking thoughtfully at me, she surprised me with her first words. “Mom, I guess I’m not going to have children if I choose to have radiation.”

I hesitated while I thought about what she said. “Well, sweetheart, if you choose not to have radiation, the treatments may not be enough to cure you, according to what the doctor said. Is there truly a choice? We’re talking about your life. If you don’t have the radiation, there may be a possibility you won’t be here to have a child. Do you understand?”

I couldn’t hold back the tears any longer; I couldn’t believe I was telling my sweet child she had to choose infertility. I reached out to hug her. We held tight to each other.

“I guess you’re right, Mom.” She sounded pensive and lost in thought.

“It’s decided then. You’re going to be okay, sweetheart. I’ll find you the best doctor; I promise! Do you still want to go straight home?”

“Yes, Mom, it will feel good to be at home. I’m very tired.”

“I’ll begin searching for your new doctor right away.”

Tes was quiet again as I drove. I held her hand most of the way home, and she held on tight.

At least we said the words out loud. This was the only choice — the choice for Tes to live.

I made call after call, looking for the right oncologist. I researched doctors and recommendations from friends and checked through lists of doctors from several clinics. One name showed up in about six places. I finally knew whom to contact to help Tes.

He was everything I hoped he’d be. His rapport with Tes was immediate. He listened as she spoke and he spoke directly to her. I was there just to sign papers. I knew she trusted him the first time they were together. I was so relieved. Their relationship was a major step. The next week, while in the hospital, Tes’s days were a whirlwind of appointments, more blood tests, a spinal tap, and multiple scans.

Two full weeks of radiation, two and a half years of chemotherapy every two weeks, and about twenty spinal taps finally brought Tes’s treatment to completion. After that, her yearly exam included a scan for monitoring the illness, which appeared to be gone from her body! After six years, she was pronounced cured! The important choice made that day in the park gave Tes the chance to live.

During these years Tes enjoyed the luxury of time to graduate from high school and move on to get educated at a local community college, eventually meeting a young man. They became serious in their relationship; she loved him. When he joined the Marines, she followed him to live in North Carolina near the military base.

Tes lived happily, experiencing joy in the everyday, in the life that she had been given by choosing radiation years before. Then one day my phone rang. I heard Tes’s melodic voice. “Hi Mom, I have news. I’m going to have a baby!”