Mothers make everything better. They have strength. They have compassion. They have the power to stretch time for the benefit of others.
Jenny Lalla is one of those mothers.
Lalla sat in a corner of a sterile room looking over her daughter Soraya’s shoulder. The two squared off in a tic-tac-toe duel. It’s one of the many ways Lalla and the 9-year-old spend time at Rady Children’s Hospital.
“Because I have to get my chemo,” Soraya said with a sigh.
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“This is the unknown and you feel helpless sometimes,” Lalla said, shaking her head.
Soraya has a rare terminal cancer. Doctors found a tumor in her pelvis three years ago. The cancer has since moved to the girl’s lungs.
“It’s hard,” Lalla said. “This is the last place any parent would want to be.”
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Doctors told her they didn’t think Soraya had much time.
That was a year ago. Soraya is a fighter.
“She lovely, loving, bold, fun,” said her smiling mom.
They also have a lot of support. Namely, Lalla’s mom, Tessa Marcus.
“We were obviously shocked, and we said, ‘OK, what do we need to do?’ ” Marcus recalled thinking when she got the news of Soraya’s diagnosis.
Marcus and Lalla’s dad, Ray, moved from South Africa to join Team Soraya.
“I felt relief — I feel like I’m going to be OK,” Lalla said as she reached for her mother’s hand.
“She’s wonderful. She’s just incredible. She’s an incredible mother,” countered Marcus. “Of course, we need each other.”
Team Soraya also includes the girl’s dad who serves in the Navy with Lalla. Besides being “Mom,” Lalla is also Petty Officer 2nd Class Jennifer Lalla.
Soraya’s younger sister, Sasha, also shaved her head for the cause.
“Every day is uncertain," Lalla said. "The prognosis is very poor, and that’s what we have in the back of our mind all the time. The doctors believe that the cancer is hiding, and it will come back.”
Everyone helps. The mothers lead the way.
“We are much more powerful together than separately — that’s what we know,” concluded Marcus.
There is no history of cancer in Soraya’s family. She undergoes treatments at Rady Children’s Hospital in San Diego and Children’s Hospital in Los Angeles.
