[PilotMan]

I have a very small family. Only 4 first cousins in total, and no other brothers or sisters. We've all been fairly distant from one another, but with Facebook I've gotten to be closer to my youngest cousin. She is the closest thing I have to a sister. She lost her mom to cancer as a teenager, and just lost her dad this year. Her mom's loss raised a great deal of anxiety for her and her own situation and she's been very aggressive in seeking out professionals for any chance of her getting sick. Well, this year it struck. She's not even 40 and was diagnosed with stage one breast cancer a few weeks ago, however the type that she has is very aggressive. During the full body scans they found it had spread to her lymph nodes, and that the mass in her breast was bigger than expected. She starts chemo very soon, and even though she is in good spirits, I know that she's worried. We are very worried.

I wish we could travel to them and check in or help, or something. I am worried for her daughter who has her own set of anxiety issues. Her husband is great and I know will look after and support them, but damn, this was not something that anyone had on the radar right now. It's a very helpless feeling.