Diana was pregnant, and after five months, she still couldn't really believe it. At age 40, she and her husband had been trying for a long time and had just about given up hope. Now here she was, thinking more and more about her family, and her place in its cycle. In addition, she was also having a hard time choosing baby's names and thought it would be useful and fun to get to know the names of her distant family members. She decided that it was time to finally put together that family tree she'd been putting off for years.
She knew all the details about her immediate family, but as she started putting the tree together, she realized how little she knew beyond that. Her father wasn't reliable at remembering that kind of stuff, and her mother, Julia, had died 20 years before from breast cancer. Diana decided to call her favorite aunt to see if she could fill in the missing pieces. At 74, her mother's sister Gretta was one of her favorite people in the world. When Diana called, Gretta was delighted to hear from her and they arranged for a visit to go climbing through the family tree. When Diana got back from the visit, the family tree was filling in -- but something was starting to bother her. Many of her relatives had died of cancer. She was getting a little scared that there might be something in the family to watch out for.
Besides Diana's mother Julia, Gretta had two siblings, Johnny and Helen. Helen had died at 71 from a heart attack, but Johnny was still as feisty as ever. According to Gretta, her father, John, had 6 brothers and sisters. While she couldn't be sure, Gretta thought that two of the girls, Jane and Rose, had died of breast cancer. The youngest boy, Charlie had died very recently of heart disease but had also been diagnosed with prostate cancer five years ago. After Gretta talked about Jane and Rose's breast cancer, she lowered her voice and revealed that her sister Helen had actually had breast cancer at 40, and had had a mastectomy. "I'm so sorry I didn't talk about it more with your mother when she was sick" said Gretta regretfully, "but we just didn't talk about those kinds of things back then when I was younger." Gretta also explained that since Helen had been diagnosed with breast cancer and had done so well, everyone assumed that Julia would be fine too. She said, "we were all in shock when Julia got so ill and died."
She knew all the details about her immediate family, but as she started putting the tree together, she realized how little she knew beyond that. Her father wasn't reliable at remembering that kind of stuff, and her mother, Julia, had died 20 years before from breast cancer. Diana decided to call her favorite aunt to see if she could fill in the missing pieces. At 74, her mother's sister Gretta was one of her favorite people in the world. When Diana called, Gretta was delighted to hear from her and they arranged for a visit to go climbing through the family tree. When Diana got back from the visit, the family tree was filling in -- but something was starting to bother her. Many of her relatives had died of cancer. She was getting a little scared that there might be something in the family to watch out for.
Besides Diana's mother Julia, Gretta had two siblings, Johnny and Helen. Helen had died at 71 from a heart attack, but Johnny was still as feisty as ever. According to Gretta, her father, John, had 6 brothers and sisters. While she couldn't be sure, Gretta thought that two of the girls, Jane and Rose, had died of breast cancer. The youngest boy, Charlie had died very recently of heart disease but had also been diagnosed with prostate cancer five years ago. After Gretta talked about Jane and Rose's breast cancer, she lowered her voice and revealed that her sister Helen had actually had breast cancer at 40, and had had a mastectomy. "I'm so sorry I didn't talk about it more with your mother when she was sick" said Gretta regretfully, "but we just didn't talk about those kinds of things back then when I was younger." Gretta also explained that since Helen had been diagnosed with breast cancer and had done so well, everyone assumed that Julia would be fine too. She said, "we were all in shock when Julia got so ill and died."
