One in eight women will be diagnosed with cancer in her lifetime, but cancer infects the lives of entire families.
Husbands, parents and children of breast cancer patients all feel the effects.
News 8 Austin took a look at breast cancer through some very young eyes.
Reeve Kolinek has experienced more in his four years of life than most adults.
His mother was diagnosed with breast cancer when he was 3 years old.
"I started disappearing so much with doctor's appointments,” Traci Kolinek said. “So, I explained to him that Mommy had a spot on her booby and that the doctor's were fixing me, and we kept it all upbeat. But, we were very honest with him."
Reeve is just one of hundreds of thousands of kids who have to face that dreaded news.
"He started needing a night light, he started wetting the bed … anger a lot of anger," Kolinek said.
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Beating Breast Cancer
Breast cancer affects entire families, not just mothers.
 
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Reeve started therapy with the organization Wonders & Worries, where he learned not only coping, but he learned about cancer.
Wonders & Worries’ Farya Phillips said children notice if their mothers aren’t around as much as usual.
"It's something they typically can't be protected from, because it's their mom,” she said. “They're gonna notice if mom's not there, if it's for a few hours or whether it's for a few days. So, the best thing to do is to prepare them and to help them come up with coping strategies."
Phillips stressed that children need understand what's happening. They need questions answered, and they need to know they're still loved.
"Their imaginations can run wild with, ‘Did I cause this? Can I catch this cancer? The next time I get sick, am I going to lose my hair?’ We really want to be able to give them honest non-threatening information,” she said.
That's all it took.
Kolinek noticed changes right away.
"I can tell he wasn't as scared,” she said. “His acting out stopped. He became a normal kid again."
From toddlers to teens, experiencing cancer in the family is difficult to describe.
Harrison Osteen was 14 when he found out about his mother's diagnosis, and his younger brother, Grayson, was 10.
“I don't know if she ever told me,” Harrison said. “I was in my room, and I saw her come home. I knew what she had been doing, where she was going and I saw my dad meet her at the house. And, she got out and she was upset, really upset. And, my dad kinda knew. I kinda knew."
Sometimes the most painful memories are the quickest to surface.
"First thing I remember was actually seeing her in the hospital," Grayson said.
"When, it really hit me was when she came back from her first chemo and my grandpa helped her through the door," Harrison said.
Mom Amy Osteen has been a survivor for four years. She said she could not be prouder of her boys.
A typically spunky mom, Amy admitted she left the tears in the car.
Time hasn't made the fear of recurrence subside.
“I always wonder and hope it doesn’t come back, but I always know that there’s a possibility it will,” Harrison said.
This family walked away from cancer forever changed.
Ears perk higher upon hearing the word. Minds grow wiser. Heartstrings wrap a little tighter around the ones they love.
Click for more information on National Breast Cancer Awareness Month.
