From the Field
By Lisa St. George, Lead ALF
My beautiful redheaded girl was born in 1982. We were overjoyed! The first few months were typical—feeling tired as a mom and adjusting to life centered on our daughter. By 5 months, I was gaining confidence, and she was sleeping through the night. When I took her for her 5-month check-up, I mentioned to the pediatrician that her left eye seemed to wander. Also, in certain light, I saw a red reflection from the eye. He said it is likely a lazy eye but referred me to a pediatric ophthalmologist.
My precious daughter was diagnosed with bilateral retinoblastoma on July 1, 1983,—my birthday. She was 6 months old. We were utterly devastated. We were referred to a pediatric ophthalmologist at Los Angeles Children’s Hospital, and we flew through the night to see the doctor—who was, at the time, one of only two doctors in the USA who had deep knowledge of this rare cancer.
I was thrown into a world of new machines, tests, drugs, treatment options, surgical procedures, and learning how to care for my daughter, who was now extremely vulnerable. My hands shook as I changed the bandages on her left eye after it was removed in an emergency surgery. She began radiation treatments, chemotherapy, and exams under anesthesia every 2 weeks to monitor the tumors in her remaining eye.
I took care of her and made decisions no parent should ever have to make—God-like decisions about her sight, her life, her well-being, and her pain. These decisions haunted me for years. I second-guessed myself and blamed myself for any health issues that were secondary to the decisions I made in the beginning of her cancer journey.
In 2000, I made my first WRAP. WRAP helped me get a handle on the Triggers and Stressors that often arose around my daughter’s care. She grew into an amazing woman—a blind woman—who let nothing stop her from seeking and reaching her goals. She has always needed continuing care, undergoing more than 100 surgeries in her life. There seemed to be hurtles and barriers that rose up constantly.
WRAP helped me manage my emotions, my worries, my well-being so I could be a good parent—to both her and my second daughter, born 10 years after my first. Being a mother has been the most important job I have ever had.
With WRAP in my life, I became clearer about my self-care and how that translated to healthy parenting. When we, as mothers, are well, calm, clear, and able to support ourselves in healthy ways, we become better and more effective parents. WRAP gave me clarity and calm—and continues to do so every single day.
Lisa St. George, MSW, CPRP, CPRSS, is a Certified WRAP Facilitator
