It is very difficult for parents who have to bury their children. Everyone copes with the bitterness of loss in different ways, and Vikki Bunke chose a rather unusual way for herself. Lemurov.net she will tell how, having lost her daughter, she was able to find the strength to live on.
Grace Bunke, Vikki’s daughter, was only 11 years old when doctors diagnosed her with cancer. It all started with pain in the knee joint, which the teenage girl complained about for a long time: she was involved in sports and for a long time the family thought that the problem was an unsuccessful warm-up or an injury at the race.
But the doctors called a disappointing diagnosis, the girl was found to have osteosarcoma. Grace wasn’t going to quit sports because of her illness, so she went to swimming classes. It was useful considering the deplorable condition of her leg. At the same time, the girl continued to study at school on a par with her peers.
In parallel with the new achievements, she underwent 18 courses of chemotherapy, part of the affected leg even had to be removed. There was a firm conviction in little Miss Bunka that the disease would definitely recede. However, no doctors’ measures helped, the girl died when she turned 14.
After the death of her daughter, the inconsolable mother found out about the project “Swim Across America”, this is a charity swim, the essence of which is to raise funds for the treatment of oncology, as well as for new research of the disease.
These competitions became Vikki’s motivation to move on. She understood that with her work and sports training she could help other people and families who were faced with a terrible disease.
Therefore, the woman began to train: she used to have a slight fear of water, but she was able to overcome it in order to fulfill her mission. Vikki has already signed up for 14 open competitions, one for each year of her daughter’s life. She passed four of them with dignity. After them, the project raised $ 80,000.
