A Message To The Lady In The Lift...

A lady in the lift at M&S today with her husband was smiling and talking to Dylan as we rode up and down stopping at each floor because it was busy.. then just as we reached our floor she asked us about Dylan's oxygen and it caught me totally off guard!..

I apologise if I shocked you when I said "lung cancer" it was just the simplest way to describe it. I realise that sounded scary and you were visibly surprised at his age that he had something so rare. 

I didn't mind you asking, in fact after all the people staring at us as we had walked around the homeware section, it was actually refreshing to have somebody ask with genuine concern rather than just being nosy and rude.

You asked if he would be okay with such concern it broke my heart a little and all I could muster up was that "we hope so now yes" but I walked away feeling like I could have said so much more..

Truthfully I wish more people were like you, that they'd look at Dylan and see past the oxygen tubing and talk to him and make him smile.. that they'd ask questions rather than stare and speculate and that they would show genuine concern rather than just wondering 'how' or 'why' he had this disease, because truthfully we have no idea why ourselves!

Thank you for being the only person in that store today that actually looked at our son like the beautiful boy he is and not just defined by his oxygen and his disease, you restored my faith in the world a little today just when it was wavering and I needed that..