“I have cancer.”
When my mother said those three words, it catapulted me into the “sandwich generation,” a term used to describe middle-aged adults who care for both elderly parents and children.
I knew what I was expected to do when I received the news of my mother’s cancer. The narrative says that I, a woman, should take off work to care for an elderly parent. But I’m a CEO and the breadwinner of my family. When I got that call from my mom, my company was in the middle of a capital raise. There was no “taking off” work.