A caregiver, Papua New Guinea

Our parents teach us how to live with them, but they do not teach us how to live without them.

My mother died of lung cancer in 2018. Before her diagnosis, I did not truly understand the impact of cancer or the reality of its scarring influence. I thought of it as just another illness—something one could recover from after a period of treatment in hospital. I believed that as long as Mum was in the ward, she was receiving the care she needed. Yet the days stretched into weeks, and the weeks into months, and she never healed.
Everything turned upside down after I lost her. I was left wishing I had known more about this cancer and what it entailed so that I could have pushed her to get it checked sooner rather than later. Cancer robbed me of her, and life has not been the same since. Grief never truly stops; you simply learn to live with it.

My loss is why I now speak out. Don’t wait for your world to turn upside down. Learn the signs, talk to your family, and prioritise regular check-ups. Today’s knowledge and action are tomorrow’s protection. Let’s fight for a future where no one has to say, “If only I had known sooner.”

This story was published with the consent of Papua New Guinea Cancer Foundation Incorporated.