Dear Mom who reprimanded their child in Wawa for staring at me, 

Your 5 year old with long beautiful hair and a mind which is yet to see all this big and mysterious world has in store for her was seeing (most likely for the first time) a girl with a weird white tube coming from her leg, and no hair!

It’s hard for her not to stare; she's trying to figure out what she's seeing.

Before you reprimand her, which honestly makes it seem like there's something wrong about me that is forbidden to speak about, explain to your daughter that I'm a girl that's sick.

Not a girl she should feel bad for, but one she should keep in her prayers that is fighting a battle hopefully her young mind will never fully be able to comprehend.

So let your 5 year old stare, and explain to her what she's looking at, that I'm not a monster or a science experiment gone rogue, but a girl who is fighting (and winning I might add) a fight against an illness.

Let her be curious.

Honestly I wish parents would let their kids ask what's wrong with me. Or let their daughter who has never seen another girl with no hair ask where mine went.

I’d be happy to explain.

Kids need to be aware that children and teens with cancer are the same as them. They just have a few extra things they have to go through to be able to play, a few extra "vitamins" to take, a different place they have sleepovers, and a few more monsters to slay than they do.

Sincerely,
The girl with the weird white tube that feels like a science experiment when you tell her to look away and not stare.