EL MIRAGE, AZ -- A Valley family is showing courage in the face of cancer.
Seven years ago, Linda Lewis, of El Mirage, found herself and her family falling apart after she found a large lump in her breast.
"They kept on removing it and it kept on coming back 'til I finally had to have surgery," said Lewis.
Fighting to survive, the single mother of four began a series of surgeries, including a double mastectomy.
"It opened our eyes to the effects that sickness can have on everyone in a person's family, especially children, who do not fully understand what is happening and feel afraid and alone," reads Lewis from a book she said is helping her and her family heal.
The 16-chapter book is titled
Quilt For Surviving, and was written by Lewis' two youngest children, Brittney and Jordan, who began suffering from depression and anger as they watched their mother fight to survive.
"I usually kept it inside I didn't let it show," said Brittney. "I used to have attitudes, or get mad, but this helped me to be open about it."
It took a couple of years for the siblings to put their painful memories into a book, which described how the family fought to keep themselves together through their most difficult times.
"Even though she was sick, she made sure we had food and clothes on our backs and a roof over our heads even though she was hurting and in pain," Brittney recalled.
"We really looked back at it and said, 'Wow, how did we overcome this? How did we overcome this? A single parent going through cancer,'" expressed Jordan.
Brittney, 18, graduated from Skyline West High School in Peoria and is headed to Atlanta to attend Spelman College in the fall to study nursing. She explained what it was like when she found out her mother was dying of cancer.
"I felt numb because I did not know too much about it," Brittany said. "But seeing my mom in pain made me feel scared because I did not know if she was going to be with us from one day to another."
Jordan, 16, is an 11th grader at Skyline West High and aspires to be a chef one day. He remembered how heartbreaking it was watching his mother suffer.
"I was very scared, being the baby in the family, I have never seen my mom cry before," Jordan said.
The young authors hope the words on the pages of their first book will help other young children going through the pain of watching a parent battling cancer.
"I was happy that they put their feelings and their concerns and their hopes to help other families out there (who are) going through the same thing," said Lewis. "They want everybody to know that if you are going through this you're not alone," said Lewis.
Lewis's children are thrilled their mother's cancer is now in remission and she's finally starting to smile again.
"We overcame it and we're happy now," Jordan exclaimed.
A perfect ending to this family's difficult story.
Quilt for Surviving costs $9 and is available only online.
