Paul Bass Photo
At Friday’s event, Trey numbers mom’s post-op cancer-free years.
New Haven’s newest published author offered a message to his readers: It’s scary when your mom comes down with cancer. But she — and you — can survive it.
The author, James “Trey” Rawlins III, tells that story in his new book, When Mommy had cancer. The picture book is aimed at children 4 to 7 years old whose mothers are diagnosed with cancer.
Trey was 4 years old when that happened.
Five years later he stood with his now cancer-free mom Veronica Marion-Rawlins before his classmates at Edgewood School’s “Town Meeting” assembly Friday to receive an achievement award. And to tell the tale.
Or, rather, to read it aloud.
“I was scared Mommy wouldn’t be around anymore,” read Trey, a fourth-grader at Edgewood.“I was sad and mad.”
He recounted visiting his mother at Yale-New Haven Hospital as she underwent surgery for breast cancer. He recalled games they made up at their Westville home to turn adversity into fun.
When mom lost her hair and had to wear a beanie, “Mommy and I wore matching caps!”
When she was too tired to to walk upstairs to bed, mom and son “camped out” and slept on the couch.
After saying their prayers together.
“I became Mommy’s little helper,” Trey wrote. “I’d empty the trash, pick up my toys and dust with a feather. I did all my jobs until Mommy felt better.”
They’d test which foods didn’t taste right at dinner each night — and Trey would eat the ones his mom couldn’t. The sweet potatoes, for instance. To mom, they suddenly tasted like bubble gum.
Marion-Rawlins, a former teacher who now works as an educational consultant, recalled how she looked for a non-fiction children’s book on the subject to read to Trey when she was first diagnosed. She couldn’t find one.
“‘Mommy, I could write that book,’” she recalled Trey telling her. “I took my mom hat off. I put my teaching cap on.”
A colleague’s cousin, an architect named Jean Sanchez, agreed to illustrate Trey’s book for free. Marion-Rawlins paid to self-publish it last month. She figured she could sell it to hospitals and clinics to put in waiting rooms. She was surprised to find word-of-mouth spreading and everyday people, including dads of young children, wanting to buy it. A second printing should arrive later this month. (To order a $10 copy contact Marion-Rawlins .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) or at 203 – 503-7552.)
Meanwhile, after six surgeries and grueling chemotherapy, Marion-Rawlins reported, she has had no recurrence. She is scheduled to finish taking medication in the spring.
“The love of this little boy gave me to strength to keep going,” she said. “He’s a mama’s boy.”
A mama’s boy with a sequel up his sleeve: Trey revealed that he’s planning a second book, this one on his cousin’s cochlear implant.
Next stop, Oprah?