Starting New Milestones After Loss
- Megan McCain, 37, is cherishing sweet milestones with her one-year-old daughter after losing her father, the late John McCain, to an aggressive type of brain cancer in 2018.
- The Bad Republican author and her husband took little Liberty on a family outing to see Peppa Pig’s Adventure in Baltimore, Maryland.
- Remembering all the wonderful ways your loved one enriched your life while they were alive and moving on from there can be such a powerful way to move forward and honor them.
“Thank you to our friends across the pond for their wonderful cultural export of Peppa Pig,” McCain wrote on Instagram. “Liberty loved her first concert!” The popular fictional icon just kicked off a U.S. tour.
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Apparently, the little girlwho looks just like momseems to be taking on some of her late grandfather’s traits as well, from what Meghan shared earlier this year.
“So this is very strange … DNA and genes are strange,” Meghan said. “[Liberty] does this thing with her hands, and [my dad] used to do that all the time. I don’t do it. I don’t know where it comes from but she does it even now.”
She said that it “creeps” her out when she does the same tic.
“So it’s stuff like that, but I loved my dad and I love my mother in a way that’s the way I think a lot of people love their parents, they’re the people that raised you,” Meghan shared. “And with my dad in particular, he was just so much for so much of my life in so many different ways. But with my daughter, it’s just pure. She’s perfection.”
Moving on After Loss
After experiencing the loss of a parent, many people choose to start their own family. Not only do they typically feel an immense void from this traumatic loss, but sadly, experts say that they can also feel that their childhood has died along with the parent as they perceive to now face life “alone.”
Having children and starting their own traditions as a young family can help to continue to feel joy in life. While John fortunately lived long enough to see his own little girl get married (Meghan actually moved the wedding up in hopes this would be the case), the late senator was sadly not able to meet his grandchild, which is why seeing his traits in the little girl are understandably that much more special for Megan.
Camila Regains Her Sense of Self After Losing Her Mother to Breast Cancer
Remembering all the wonderful ways your loved one enriched your life while they were alive and moving on from there can be such a powerful way to move forward and honor them.
Understanding Glioblastoma
Glioblastoma, also called GBM, is the most aggressive brain tumor in adults. Both John McCain and Ted Kennedy died from the disease.
Although rare, this tumor can divide rapidly and grow quickly. Despite the very best treatment options, outcomes are still modest, at best. Patients with GBM often have symptoms such as headaches, nausea, vomiting, and sensory changes such as issues with balance or walking. Sometimes GBM can also cause seizures and other neurological defects. Many of the symptoms a GBM may cause often improve following treatment.
There Is New Hope for Those Fighting the Same Cancer That Took John McCain
Despite the aggressive nature of GBM, the top brain researcher in the U.S. and neuro-oncologist at Duke University Medical Center, Dr. Henry Friedman shares hope with SurvivorNet. "You are not dead just because you're diagnosed with a glioblastoma,” Dr. Friedman urges. “So many people are told by their doctors or their institutions that they're at, 'I'm sorry, put your affairs in order and just move on.'"
While outcomes for patients with GBM are poor, clinical trials and future treatments offer some hope. Dr. Friedman and his colleagues at Duke University are investigating a new therapy that combines the modified poliovirus and immunotherapy.
"The modified poliovirus is used to treat this tumor, by injecting it directly into the tumor, through a catheter. It is designed to lyse the tumor and cause the tumor cells to basically break up," Dr. Friedman explains. “The goal is that the modified poliovirus will then trigger the body's own immune system to attack and fight the cancer cells.”
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