My father has just been diagnosed with lung cancer. I have a 2-year-old son, and my father has been like a father to him. I also live with my father and two younger sisters. We lost our mother 8 years ago and to receive this news is utterly devastating. I'm scared I'm going to lose my dad. It hurts and I feel so alone. I've never had to go through something like this before. I've never had a family member go through cancer before, and it terrifies me because I don't know what to expect. I don't know how long he has left to live, how to support him and my sisters through this, how to manage anything. It hurts! He's our rock and the glue to this family. He is all we have. I don't know what to do, say, how to act. We are close, but he isn't in touch with his feelings; he doesn't like to talk about how he feels and keeps everything bottled up, so that makes it harder because I can't speak to him about this, and he's probably scared too.
