You were the one whom the local cancer-care team felt needed a family doctor when you returned to our small coastal village after six months at a teaching hospital in the city.
You were the one who felt lost, who longed for professional advice and support.
You were the one juggling the roles of mother and wife and daughter.
You were the one I told “You don’t have to pretend that everything is okay when you come in here. I want this room to be a kind of sanctuary for you. You can tell me anything. There is nothing I can’t hear from you.”
You were the one living every parent’s nightmare.
You were the one whose daughter had leukemia.
Why, oh why, then was I the one to cry?
Hilton Koppe
Lennox Head, New South Wales, Australia