Terminally Ill Woman Vows Not to Die until She Meets Her Pregnant Daughter’s Baby — Story of the Day
A terminally ill woman is determined to live long enough to see her longed-for first grandchild but the doctors don’t hold out much hope.
When Helen Marstons was 43, she was diagnosed with a particularly virulent form of cancer, and she beat it even though the odds were against her. Helen was a born warrior and never gave up.
She beat that cancer, but when she was 50, it came back, and this time there was nothing the doctors could do to bring on a remission or buy Helen a little more time. But then something extraordinary happened.
No one imagined the titanic battle being fought inside that house | Source: Shutterstock
Helen’s daughter Terry called from New York. “Mom,” she said weeping. “Oh mom, the gladdest news! I’m pregnant! The doctor says I’m due sometime in late February…”
“A baby…” breathed Helen, her thin face lighting up, “Oh I’ve been longing for a grandchild! I can’t wait to hold that little one in my arms!”
Terry was silent. Her father had told her the doctors’ best prognosis gave Helen two to three months on the outside — the seven months until her baby was born was an impossibility.
“That is going to be wonderful mom,” Terry responded softly. “It’s going to be wonderful!” But Helen had heard Terry’s pause. She, too, knew the doctor’s prognosis, she knew her chances.
Helen was first diagnosed with cancer at the age of 43 | Source: Unsplash
Helen hung up the phone and looked out of the window at the falling night. “I want to see that baby, God,” she whispered. “If ever in my life I have done anything that pleased thee, I beg thee, give me strength.”
Helen closed her eyes and thought about the long months ahead — months which she knew would be of agony. She knew that if she simply stopped fighting and yielded to the terrible enemy within, the end would come swifter, easier.
But Helen squared her jaw. “You listen up, death, you may cheat me of many moments in my family’s future, but this one I’m having. I’m going to hold my grandson in my arms.”
The doctors were later astounded when Helen rallied and seemed to draw strength from some invisible source, she was even well enough to go home, and so Terry and her husband relocated to Pennsylvania to be near her.