Alcohol does have a significant impact on cancer risk so it is quite possible that it was at least in part responsible for the mother's cancer.
Not only is it directly toxic to most cells which is why it is associated with cancers of the mouth, stomach and GI tract, but it also increases general inflammation.
This is also associated with increase cancer risk and a whole host of other illnesses.
I think one of the tragedies of modern drug policies is that it gives the false impression that legal drugs are safer than illegal ones.
This is absolutely untrue they may be safer in the sense that you know exactly what you are getting but if you take that out of the equation the actual chemical components are just as dangerous (if not more so in many cases). I covered this more in my post "Why Banning Drugs Doesn't Work and Never Will".
This case illustrates just how damaging alcohol can be in those who are susceptible to dependency and addiction. The behaviour of the parents is sadly all too common in modern society.
Many children end up in this kind of role reversal where they become the parent to their dependant father or mother (in this case it is both). It is interesting to read how the parent's drinking gradually increased in terms of frequency, strength of drinks and timing (i.e. drinking earlier in the day).
I have had my own issues with alcohol so can see that exact pattern and recognise it in myself.
That is why I never drink alcohol at all now.
One of the problems with alcohol is that it has powerful amnesic effects so that when you drink heavily you forget the events of the previous night and don't understand or indeed remember the turmoil you caused.
This feeds into further drinking because you forget the damage you did and assume everything was fine. That is in part what makes it so dangerous.
Events may occur that would shock you into stopping but you are oblivious because you don't remember.
It is reassuring that in this case the parents did eventually seem to overcome their drinking problems. Obviously the cost was very high.
It is commendable that the writer avoids alcohol. There seems to be a strong genetic load towards alcoholic and addictive tendencies so the author will need to be very vigilant about this throughout their lives.
Although one would assume these kind of experiences would be sufficient negative reinforcement to prevent that - it is amazing how often it is not.
Alcoholism can strike these kind of people in moments of desperation and weakness quickly escalating out of control.
It can never be taken lightly.
HELP ME I CANT VOTE AN ERROR WONT LET ME FUCKING BUG
Transaction failed: abs_rshares > 50000000 || abs_rshares == 1: voting weight is too small, please accumulate more voting power or steem power
I CANT VOTE AT ALL
I think that means you need to power up best to bring it up in the help chatroom channel as I have not seen this error before.