It was summer and I was living it up. I was going into my seventh grade year and was worried about going to a bigger school, I never thought this could happen to me, it totally caught me off guard. It never occurred to me that my mom could possibly have cancer,” Haley Woolsey said. Haley was in her dad’s truck one summer evening on her way home from bible study, when he told her the news.
“Something’s wrong with mom,” he said. “She’s sick and needs surgery to get something removed.”
Haley’s head spun and all at once, thousands of thoughts spun through her head.
What if it gets worse? What if she dies?
Haley said her mom went through what seemed like an endless amount of treatment: multiple surgeries, oncologist appointments in Arlington, chemo, and six weeks of radiation.
“The whole time she was going through treatment, the only thing everyone was focusing on was how to get the cancer removed,” Haley said.
A year seemed like decades by this point.
October is National Breast Cancer Awareness month. Gradually, the color pink has found its way along with Halloween decorations and attire. It’s everywhere, from sporting events to troops overseas, pink ribbons and products supporting and bringing awareness to the Susan G. Komen  Foundation.
For Haley, the support is more than a simple pink ribbon.
As time passed, Haley watched her mom battle constantly.
“It was really hard to see my mom go through that, but during that time I saw her strength in that she can overcome it,” Haley said.
As the battle went on, Haley believed her mom was going to make it.
“I knew there was hope,” she said. “ God was with us through the entire time.”
She was right. her mom won the battle with breast cancer that went on for a year.
Haley’s words to others struggling with watching a loved one go through what her mom did are a form of paying it forward to the ones who helped her through the struggle.
“I’m always here for them if they need to talk,” Haley said, “and there’s nothing God can’t handle and help you go through.”