Having a sick kid sucks. There’s no getting around it. Even if the sick is a case of pink eye, an ailment that I won’t deny hoping I would come down with in my college years of waitressing so that I would have a legitimate excuse to miss work but not actually feel like crap. It’s entirely different when it happens to your kid though. Especially your sweet, innocent, beautiful baby. And even worse when, as often is the case for working moms, it puts you in a tough spot at work.

I had this whole post written in my head about the annoyance of this whole pink eye thing, the difficulties it is going to cause me at work and that tight rope we’re forced to walk each and every day as working moms. And then I read my daughter’s daycare newsletter.

A 3-year-old little girl at her school has been diagnosed with Neuroblastoma, a type of cancer.

According to the newsletter, the cancer has spread into her bone marrow and she is currently undergoing high doses of chemotherapy which will be followed by radiation. The school is having a fundraiser in honor of the little girl and the battles she and her family will be fighting.

And I can’t bring myself to rant about something that seems so petty in light of everything this family must be dealing with.

If pink eye is tough, I can’t even fathom what the word cancer would be like to deal with as a mom. The fear she must be facing knowing the tough road that lies ahead for her daughter; the pain they will all have to endure before they can get to recovery; the unthinkable that threatens to take it away; I can’t even begin to allow myself to really think about such things.

And here, this family has to.

Not only that, they have to think about their other child. What will they do to maintain as much normalcy as possible?

And what about this mom’s work-life balance? I don’t know this family or their financial situation, but what if she doesn’t have the option to take unpaid leave? What if she is the only one employed? What will they do?

I think about all of this, and it makes me appreciate the fact that we’re dealing with pink eye.

I can deal with the wrath of my boss, my daughter’s itchy eyes and the fact that we’ll have to wash every item in our house.

Annoying, I can handle.

The mere possibility of tragic – not so much.

So I’m not going to post about pink eye.

Instead, I’m going to say a prayer for that family. In fact, I’ll probably say lots of them, and while I’m at it, I’m going to thank God for the blessings we have received from him. I’m going to go upstairs and kiss my daughter, sleeping in her crib. I’m going to think about how else I can help this family.

And I will remember to never take anything, not the health of my child or one single moment I have with her, for granted.

The Munchkin’s daycare is having a fundraiser in honor of this child and her family, and has pledged to match every donation collected during the month of March. If you would like to support them, please send me a message at info@doingthemomthing.com and I will provide you with appropriate contact information. In light of protecting their privacy, as well as my identity, I am not going to publish the name of the school or family on this Web site.