The Receipt I Keep in My Wallet

Jul 31

There is a receipt in the front pocket of my wallet. It has been there for three years. I have moved it from wallet to wallet. It has faded. It is creased. I can still read it.

It is a receipt from the hospital cafeteria at Advocate Children's Hospital in Park Ridge. April 2023. Three months into my son's leukemia treatment. An inpatient stay for a fever workup.

I bought two coffees. One for me. One for my husband, who was on his way over to take the morning shift so I could go shower. I bought a banana for our daughter, who was being dropped off by my mother-in-law later. I bought a small sandwich for me to eat at some point in the next four hours.

Total: $14.27.

I do not know why I kept the receipt. I think because, when I was paying for it at 7:14 a.m. that Tuesday, I caught myself thinking, very clearly, "This is the first thing I have bought for myself in three months."

The sandwich. That tiny act of buying a sandwich for myself in a hospital cafeteria, at 7:14 a.m., on the third day of an inpatient stay, felt like a small declaration. I am a person. I will eat something. I will continue.

I kept the receipt as a small reminder to myself.

I am writing this on a Friday in July, three years after that morning. My son is in remission. My husband is at his job. My daughter is at preschool. I am at the kitchen table. There is a peach in a bowl that I am about to eat. I have on a clean shirt.

I just opened my wallet to pull out a different card and I saw the receipt. I unfolded it. I looked at it. I refolded it. I put it back.

If you are a cancer mom reading this, the small declarations matter. The coffee. The sandwich. The clean shirt. The peach. The receipt in the wallet. These are not small. They are how we kept going.

I am keeping the receipt.

Dina
Mom of Max | Founder, Maxwell’s Toy Shoppe
Childhood Cancer Advocate 💛

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Inspired by our son, Max

When Max was diagnosed with leukemia at just two years old, we learned how much time children spend in hospitals, clinics, and treatment rooms. During those long days, a new toy or surprise often brought comfort, distraction, and something to look forward to.

As Maxwell's Toy Box grew, families asked how they could support our work year-round. So we created Maxwell's Toy Shoppe, a place to shop for the toys, gifts, and faith-based items your family already loves, while helping us deliver comfort and joy to children facing childhood cancer.

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