One year is not just a number! 365 days is not just a figure! It is a journey!

A journey of some really rough and devastating moments, some wonderfully cherished memories, some amazingly valuable lessons and one heck of a feeling of accomplishment!

Today (February 7th, 2014) marks one year from diagnosis! A day that I strongly remember with all its details, colors, time frame, faces, reactions, feelings, numbness and more. Like today... life as we knew it was changed forever! Looking back after one year of fighting cancer, one whole year of the hospital being our second home, from our life changing 180 degrees. From chemotherapy, radiation, surgeries, immunotherapy and more… from seeing our son fighting like a champ every single day with an amazing smile on his face and a positive spirit that is extremely contagious.

I wanna share my feeling that I have with you today… Today I am proud! I AM PROUD! I am proud of Zein for proving to me and to the world that we raised a man, Zein… you are not a baby, you are a man! A handsome, amazing, kind and extremely strong young man! I am proud of my daughter Malak for being such a trooper this year, for expressing her feelings beautifully, for being a great sister, for always making us laugh, for praying with us every night and for growing up infront of our eyes to be the wonderful little lady that she is today. I am proud to be married to a great man, a man whose family comes first, a devoted husband and one heck of an idol of a father! I am proud to have him by my side, to share my life with him and to call him my best friend. I am proud of myself for putting a smile every day, waking up and pushing harder, I am proud of who we are and who we became after this year.

Looking back at this year, there is no better place to be standing here today other than on the PMAC Tae Kwon Do mat, with some outstanding families and students who strive for excellence in every day they live. Zein tested for his black belt candidate and WON!!! We weren›t sitting at home feeling sorry for ourselves for spending one year of cancer! NO! We were on the mat, watching our son fighting through physical weakness, surviving an honoroary 30 minutes testing, practicing his mini kicks, punches, cali sticks, and sword routine and KICKING CANCER›S BUTT!!!

Celebrating one year of strength, one year of blessings, one year of hardship, one year of challenges and one year of never ever giving up! I am proud of this community that we are a part of, a community that stands together and fights together. I am proud to have such an amazing group of people who chose to become loyal ZEINiacs and be there for us in every way possible. I am proud of my family and their fantastic understanding on how to deal with everything this year, I am proud of our friends for standing strong in spite of everything they are going through in their own lives, and of the new friends we made and will cherish their friendship forever.

We might not be cancer free yet, but we will ALWAYS strive to squeeze in happy moments in spite of the tough battle, Zein might be still weak and gets tired easily, but we still managed to encouarge him through this whole year JUST to survive these 30 minutes of testing on our one year diagnosis anniversary! We might still have a long way ahead of us with more treatments and hospital stays, but we will keep fighting with faith and smiles inshallah...

February 7th will not be a sad memory anymore! It will be the day that we stood on the mat with our community, friends and family and SHOWED CANCER WHO IS BOSS!, It will always be the day that we stood there, feeling like winners even though we are not cancer free yet! Today marks a new beginning, new fresh happy memories that will last with us forever, we are surrounded with blessings even in hard times.

I will end by one of the strongest quote that I read last year and I remind myseld of it every single day...

“We might not be living our most beautiful days, but there is always something beautiful in every day we live”

TAKE THAT CANCER!!!

Please keep praying for us

The fight is ON! (Fighting Neuro Blastoma cancer, stage four with my son Zein Youssef for EXACTLY one year now)

By: Radwa Moussa - Youssef