Cancer is a cruel, unpredictable disease - and it is understandable people may not react well when they learn a loved one has been diagnosed.
But social media users are imploring a mum to have more compassion for her daughter, who feels she's gone ignored since her brother found out he has terminal cancer.
In a post to Reddit, the 18-year-old explained she understands her parents need to focus their attention on her older brother, 26, following his tragic diagnosis.
However, she was hurt when her mum called her 'disgusting' after she revealed she's been struggling as a result of their behaviour.
"Ever since he got sick, my family has given me less attention which is understandable.
"But now it feels like it's to the point where they don't care about me as much anymore," she explained.
"We have a family group chat, on my birthday everybody asked how he was doing instead of wishing me a happy birthday. My parents watch movies with him and spend time with him and never invite me."
Unfortunately, her feelings were not validated when she tried to express to them.
"A few days ago I got frustrated by the fact that I am feeling so left out and ignored that I told my mom about it," her post outlined.
"I told her I was feeling like a 'glass child'. She called me disgusting and couldn't believe that I was 'jealous' of my brother with cancer."
Keen to rebuff the suggestion, the teenager added: "For clarification, I'm not jealous that my brother has cancer. To be honest I'm not jealous at all; I simply used that word because it's the word my mom used to describe me.
"I spend time with my brother. We recently went on an overseas trip just the two of us together. What I'm upset about is that my family doesn't put much of an effort to check in on me or spend time with me."
"I understand that he has a limited time left and that they want to continue to spend time with him before he's gone but still, don't I deserve love too?"
In response, commenters were quick to try and console the youngster.
One such reply read: "It's okay for you to hold two truths at once, you're very sad/scared that your brother has cancer, your very sad that everyone forgot your milestone birthday and are excluding you from the family events.
"Usually I'd not say anything bad about a mother dealing with her child having cancer but her reaction to you was the only 'disgusting' that I read here today."
Fortunately, it now sounds like the family have come to better understand their daughter's feelings.
In an update, she wrote: "I called my mom and explained to her how I was feeling. She told me that she understood and was sorry that I was feeling that way. She said she would try to include me more. So, hopefully things will change and I won't feel so neglected in the future."
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