I grew up in a Christian Science household, meaning we did not use medical care for almost any reason. At the age of eight, my mother got very ill. At the time, my brother and I were not told the cause of her illness or the seriousness of her condition, all we were told is that one day she wouldn’t be sick anymore. For the next two years she became increasingly more ill and frail until she eventually passed away. I didn’t really understand at the time what exactly had happened especially since I was always told she would be getting better one day. Years later I found out that my mother’s illness was breast cancer, and because it was left untreated, it unavoidably caused her death.
Growing up in a single parent household after the death of