There are some brave Mums around. Correction – there are some brave parents. In fact, most parents are brave, just bringing children into the world and having the responsibility of shaping them into our future, is brave. But some need to be more courageous than others when life throws those random, gut-wrenching, accidents, illnesses and tragedies their paths. One such parent is Kate Langbroek.
Appearing in Sunday Style magazine on Mother’s Day is this heartfelt and raw piece written by the vivacious television and radio personality. I had the pleasure of working with Kate some years ago and I’m not at all surprised at her bravery here. Kate’s heart is as big as her laugh, her warmth as deep as her wit is sharp and her boldness falls only second to her honest nature. She’s a woman, wife and mother – brave in all three of these realms of life. And, here’s an excerpt from Kate’s column that appeared in Sunday Style to all other mothers out there.
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“My son was sick, I was dying inside but I couldn’t panic, because I am his mother…” Kate Langbroek – as appearing in Sunday Style Magazine May 10th 2015.
Kate, John and three of their four children. Image source: Twitter
Above the desk of Kate’s eldest son sits a certificate of bravery on the wall. Not just any certificate but one issued from the Eye and Ear Hospital in October 2010 from a day that Kate describes as one of the hardest days of her life. Her son had just gone into surgery to have a biopsy performed on his optic nerve. She recalls “He was being treated for leukaemia, and that was already beyond awful. But the week before, he had gone blind in one eye — a fresh terror. Our oncology team at the Children’s Hospital feared he had relapsed, that the leukaemia was overcoming the treatment.” Kate recalls that day was a day full of absolute dread for the whole family – a day that she felt she couldn’t bear – a day they thought that the illness was winning.
Kate and her family. Image source: Instagram/Twitter
It was at this moment that Langbroek writes she wished she wasn’t a mother. Not for any other reason than she couldn’t bear the pain her son was enduring. But, as she says, she thought she couldn’t bear it, but of course, did. As his mother, she had to put her own fear second and be sure not to let her own fear show. Kate continues,“Because he was frightened, I could not be…I smiled and murmured and comforted my boy, and kissed his blind eye, and the kindly surgeon said to me, very gently: “I will take good care of him, I promise.” And I could only whisper, “Thank you”.
This all happened more than four years ago and Kate and John’s son has been off treatment for two years now. She writes of his full head of thick hair, his playful and caring nature and says that “He can see with both his beautiful blue eyes.”
Kate and husband John, celebrating their 12 year wedding anniversary. Image source: Twitter
As any parent would be a nervous mixture of proud and worried when their baby goes off travelling the world for the first time, Kate’s son is now going on a trip to Italy – not without hesitation from his parents and a little of his own trepidation. But Kate says, “He was worried he might get sick over there, on his own. So we discussed it. So my son is going to Italy. He is clearly also a bit nervous. We cannot pass each other in the hallway, at the moment, without him stopping for a cuddle or a head rub”, she says.
Kate’s final words in her column in Sunday Style really pulled on our heartstrings. It’s a simple message, but it’s a true one – she wrote that sometimes the best way you can learn to parent is to learn how to let go, how to be imperfect and how to realise that motherhood, or parenthood in general is something that deserves a bravery certificate of its own.
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