The poison pumping through Janet Williams' body drains her of energy by midafternoon some days.
She speaks with a labored voice and is self-conscious about her bald head.
Life was hard enough for Williams before she was diagnosed with breast cancer on her birthday, Aug. 1, and lost her shoulder-length black hair.
She is a single parent who takes care of five children, including a niece.
Her 20-year-old son, Leon Williams, was diagnosed with sickle cell anemia when he was 3 months old.
Janet Williams takes care of him each time his disease makes him ill.
It often leaves him on his back with arthritis-like pain pounding through every joint in his body.
He is also in the hospital several times a year -- sometimes for weeks at a time -- to get blood transfusions and treatment for complications from his disease.
Williams' recent chemotherapy treatments leave her feeling out of commission much the same way for days at a time.
Now, the tables are turned, and her son is caring for her.
They trade off when the other is feeling bad.
"It has been back and forth," Leon Williams said.
Janet Williams has been out of work since the cancer treatment began, but she wants to go to nursing school once she beats the disease.
"I'm just waiting to get this all over with," she said. "It'll be all right once I get through chemo."
The only income the family has right now is a Social Security
disability check that Leon Williams receives each month.
They are living month to month until her cancer lets up and Janet Williams can work again.
Even getting to her treatments is difficult after a traffic accident totaled her car.
The Williamses have no other transportation of their own, she said.
"We try to help out more now, instead of it all being on her," Leon Williams said.
"We're one big family. We're trying to take care of everybody."
The family has had several utilities cut off because of outstanding bills and went without food stamps for all of October because of a clerical error that was beyond Janet Williams' control.
Despite the obstacles, the Williamses have stuck together and look to each other for support.
"It's good to have kids," Janet Williams said. "They lift you up a lot."
Jarrel Wade 581-8310 jarrel.wade@tulsaworld.com To see more of the Tulsa World, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.tulsaworld.com. Copyright (c) 2008, Tulsa World, Okla. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.
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