I gave 20 years of my life to two little girls after promising their dying mother I would protect them. I never imagined those same girls would one day use that promise to push me out of their lives. There was a moving truck in my driveway, and my name was written on every single box being loaded into it. I stood at the end of the front path in the early evening drizzle, still in my coat from the hospital, and I couldn't make sense of what I was seeing. My daughter, Nika, was taping a box shut near the door. Her sister, Angela, was handing bags to the driver like she'd planned this. There was a moving truck in my driveway. "What is going on?" I asked, my voice catching. Neither of them answered. I stepped in front of the walkway and blocked them both. Angela held out her phone. She wouldn't look at me, her eyes red-rimmed but dry, like she'd already done her crying before I arrived. "We can't live with someone who lied to us our whole lives," Nik...
Susan Schmidt, a 47-year-old mother of two from Australia, received life-changing news in 2023 when she was diagnosed with stage 4 bowel cancer. The diagnosis came after she initially overlooked mild symptoms — a delay she hopes others can avoid by learning from her experience. A taboo topic “Strange” and “subtle”. That’s how Susan Schmidt describes the symptoms she experienced before receiving her life-altering diagnosis in September 2023. She now has to live with bowel cancer, but she wants to warn others. “The diagnosis is incurable,” Susan told Daily Mail. “The goal now is to stay well for as long as I can. I’ll probably resume chemotherapy after my next overseas trip.” Susan explained that bowel health is often treated as a taboo topic, which can prevent early detection. “I didn’t talk about my bowel habits, who does?” she said. “That’s part of the problem with bowel cancer. People don’t raise the alarm early enough.” Early symptoms she ignored Before her diagnosis, Susan ex...