Daniël, South Africa

HOPE LIGHTS THE WAY

I have always thought that it was weird that children takes care of their parents, that was until my mother was diagnosed with breast cancer back in 2009, I was a mere 7-year-old boy, that played with his cars and didn't know that cancer is a monster that you can't just wish away, or blow a kiss and it will all be better, but that cancer is a disease that knows no bounds, that does not ask questions.

I was a 7-year-old boy that helped to clean my mother's wounds after she went for the surgery to remove her cancer from her breast, people would view it as a woman losing what makes her a woman, I viewed it as the bravest thing she could do to stay for her children.

I didn't know at the time, what seemed like fun, but in actual fact might have been traumatising for my mother, that pulling her hair out because of the chemo treatment was her once again losing herself.

I actually never talked about what happened during that time of my life, never looked back to it, until my father was diagnosed with skin cancer back in 2015, I remember how helpless I felt, how there was nothing I could do, so I cut that part of my life off, until one day, one of my teacher when I was in high school, told her story of the battle she fought with cancer, she asked me to tell my side of the story, I literally burst into tears the second I started talking, because once again I was helpless.

Caregivers are sometimes overlooked and we try to hide it, but sometimes it hurts and it is impossible, sometimes we just want a hug, we want a "thank you!" We want a "how are you today?" We sometimes just want our hands to be held.

I luckily had parents that loved me enough to make sure that I was doing alright, and because of that I can proudly say, I am Daniël de Witt a 2022 Global Hero of Hope, a son, a brother a uncle, and a caregiver.