Sometimes life doesn’t go how we would have liked.

You picture yourself growing up, getting married, having a family. But nowhere in that fantasy is the situation where your eldest son has cancer through his childhood.

Everyone would feel sorry for the parents and the cancer patient in this scenario – but what about their other, younger son? How do you make sure that he doesn’t get forgotten, that he still gets the childhood he deserves too?

This is exactly what has happened in this story, in which a sixteen-year-old boy has raised himself, but is now finding even more being expected of him.

Read on to find out what happened.

AITA for not doing everything to help my parents afford treatments for my brother?

When my brother was four and I was two years old, he was diagnosed with a blood cancer. He’d been sick for a little while and our parents thought he had a flu or something so they didn’t get him all the help right away.

Because of that guilt they devoted every second to him from that point forward.

It was supposed to be until he was cancer free. But by the time we were 8 and 6 and they had become so used to focusing on him alone. I spent most of my time with an uncle who lived nearby or neighbor when he was undergoing treatment.

My uncle didn’t like having me nearby and the neighbors were so busy with their own kids that I got pretty used to being ignored and forgotten. So when my brother was back home and I wasn’t sent anywhere anymore I was more used to being alone somewhere and taking care of myself.

Let’s see how this story develops.

My relationship with my parents was never a close one and it’s the same with my brother. He is now 18 and I am now 16. Both of us feel more like only kids and he made fun of me for telling our parents I’d like some of their attention too. They’d always tell me he needed it more and he considered me a drama queen.

The last time I said anything which was three years ago, and he said he didn’t realize boys could be as dramatic as girls.

My brother’s cancer come back five years ago and it was dealt with early. He didn’t have treatment for very long and after that he seemed better in all ways. He had more energy, his appetite was better and he was doing stuff he’d never had the energy to do before.

About a year ago my mom’s parents moved closer to us and they spent time focused on me, which bonded me to them pretty quickly. I spend a lot of time with them now. I also took my focus totally off my parents and wanting their attention.

Read on to find out what happened next.

In July my brother’s cancer returned again, but it’s different this time. I wasn’t given much info. Treatments are complicated I guess and some other countries have treatments we’re not focused on yet so there’s talk of him going to Germany and I think Switzerland too. My parents are working more hours to help pay for this.

And since then I spend even more time with my grandparents, sometimes spending the night with them.

My lack of presence wasn’t noticed until they wanted me to help raise the money and maybe offer to get tested if that’s what was needed. They said I could start fundraisers and get a job. I already have one but my parents never noticed.

I told them I wasn’t going to help with that and it was for the three of them to figure it out. I got yelled at and my grandparents stepped in and said I wasn’t responsible for this. My parents said that family should help family, that this was my own brother and how could I consider not doing everything to help.

AITA?

Listen. This is an awful situation: no one wants to see their child or their brother diagnosed with cancer, let alone spending most of their childhood fighting it.

But no one except for the grandparents seems to be considering how difficult life is for the other child.

It is not his fault that he is in this situation, and he is a child: this is not his responsibility.

Let’s see what Reddit thought about this one.

This person agreed, with a big reality check for this family.

While this person had some advice for the son.

And others were full of compassion for this forgotten child.

The moral of the story: all children deserve a childhood.

If you liked that post, check out this one about an employee that got revenge on HR when they refused to reimburse his travel.