Addie's Parodies: A Narrative Fiction

A child is usually portrayed as innocent and pure. Yamila, who is now 10, has been fighting cancer ever since she was 3 years old, when she was found to suffer from ALL. Yamila, whose family lived in Puerto Rico, underwent treatment at a local hospital. But the cancer came back. This time, her doctors recommended a bone marrow transplant and referred Yamila’s family to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee. St. Jude invents more clinical trials than any other children’s hospital, which is why the world looks to St. Jude for new and better ways to treat childhood cancer. At St. Jude, Yamila underwent the bone marrow transplant, with her brother serving as her donor. “My daughter began riding her bike shortly after leaving the transplant unit,” said Yahaira, Yamila's mother. “The physical therapist would come to teach her some exercises, and all she would think about was her bike” said her mother. “St. Jude is a hospital where miracles happen,” Yamila said. Yamila portrayed a sad child’s life because after she recovered from cancer she got it

Taylor Has been through a lot her grandfather died and so did her uncle, he died at the age of 29. She never had the chance to say how much she loved them. She always thought “What if I had said something, anything, What if I had the chance to change his outcome but I didn’t, I did nothing I just let it happen.” Now she is afraid of losing her grandmother that would be the end of the 4th of July parties, the christmas get-togethers, the Easter parties, and swimming in her lake when it's burning hot in the summer. But what breaks her heart the most is that her father has cancer. Taylor’s father mean the world to her, He means everything.

In the result of this, a majority of her time was spent visiting doctors and taking medicine may be neglecting her daughter in the process. At the age of 10, Cynthia lost her mother due to the diagnosis of pancreatic cancer. The death of a parent is considered one of the most stressful life events that a young person can experience (Patterson & Rangganadan, 2010). Parental loss from cancer can impact upon many areas of a young person’s life, and may result in social impairment, threaten a young person’s emotional development and achievement of developmental tasks, and result in psychopathology, both during the immediate post-bereavement period and extending well into adulthood (Patterson & Rangganadan,

Sarah was diagnosed with breast cancer almost 4 years ago, just a few months after her divorce was legalized. The diagnosis was devastated for her, she was terrified what will happen to her children and how she will be able to support them. Sarah said she didn’t think about herself, everything else was more urgent and important, especially because she didn’t have insurance and she was struggling financially.

"Don't say that," Alison said. "I'm sure your parents love you, you're theirs! And if they don't, then your friends are your family. I can tell that Spencer, Aria, Toby, and Hanna all love you. That's all you need sometimes."

Cancer tried to win against my older sister, Jéna, but failed. When Jéna was first diagnosed with a brain tumor called Medulloblastoma, it was one of the worst challenge that could have occurred in my family, but also one of the best. When my family members explained what happened to Jéna later in my life, I was angry that this disease-filled monster progressively tried to capture my sister in its evil home, but at that time, I was too young to understand what was happening.

Do you know the term cancer? Surely we’ve all heard the word and it dampens the air when you speak of it. We all know cancer can end lives, but we also know that it can be beat just like six year old Violet did. Violet was a normal girl at the age of six until her world was turned upside down when an ultrasound found a fist sized tumor near her kidney. She immediately underwent chemo and surgery. The life of the family changed significantly, but it’s a change they are willing to make in order to keep their precious little girl. During this time Violet and her family had to seek help from a pediatric oncologist. Pediatric oncologists save lives, here is how you can become the hero in children’s eyes.

If you were to meet Kari Whitehead and ask about her daughter, Emma, she would tell you with bright eyes about her first look at her 10 pound baby with a hair full of head, she would tell you about her first steps, sweet kisses and tickle wars. Kari would tell you about how Emma loves to paint, her favorite color is purple and her voice might crack as she painfully recalls that just when she was getting good at writing her name, her childhood was tragically interrupted by cancer. Just a few weeks shy of her fifth birthday, Emma was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Kari and her husband found comfort in that with chemotherapy, their precious child had 80%-90% chances of surviving. With great hopes, Emma began her 26 months of chemotherapy; however, after 16

As the elevator doors open I immediately see colorful walls and the greenest carpet I have ever seen. The nurse looked at me and smiled “This is the pediatric floor, just keep following me.” I continued following the nurse down the hall and as I looked up I saw tiles on the ceiling with different drawings on each one and different names. We reached two double doors that was opened by a gray button the nurse pushed. As the double doors open children were revealed, they were no older than ten years old and looked sick. It did not take me very long to notice tubes covering their small bodies and as I looked up I saw each of the hairless heads. I gasped as I realized they were cancer children and notice the yellowish colored chemotherapy drip through their ivs to their fragile bodies. Immediately I think back to when I was seven years old in the hospital everyday visiting my grandfather. Walking through those hospital doors seeing my grandpa’s hairless head and the pain he went through. I intensely remembered the grief my family went through when he got cancer and as I look at these children I would not want them to go through what my grandfather went through. I assume the nurse saw my facial expression and she said “I guess you didn’t know you were going to working with cancer kids?” I slowly shook my head but the nurse just grinned “Don’t be too alarmed then may look sick and fragile, but that doesn’t slow them down. I have come to learn that

“Most of our lives can go on with normal ups and downs, but the winds of change can blow in a tragic event that can uproot our world as we know it.” Dan B. Allender, the Healing Path. When my son was 6 years old he was diagnosed with Retinoblastoma. To be helpless watching your child experience surgeries, chemo treatments, nausea and bullying from fellow kindergarteners is difficult. You do everything within your power to minimize the suffering to your family. The treatment was successful and after 6 months he was in remission. Though this was a very hard time for me it did not compare to when we found out the cancer had returned 5 ½ years later.

Amser touched his cheek and then smiled. “Yeah, I guess I should,” he said backing up. He waited until she disappeared safely in the house and then started for home oblivious to a nightbird blinking out of existence. He didn’t miss the drone, its red light blinking a silent demand for attention when he walked into his flat ten minutes later. He knew they were angry; he’d sent his last report days ago. His good mood landed in the same heap as his overcoat.

It’s a calm afternoon. Birds chirping, with a light breeze blowing. Basketball is on in the background; it’s March, after all. Seemingly this was like any other day, but in a few minutes it would quickly become one that changed my life. I’m upstairs in my room, running through my agenda for what would soon be due on Monday. Before long, a familiar voice hits my ears. “Jake, can you come meet me in the living room?” my Dad yells upstairs. As I arrive, I notice the entire family has congregated. The feeling in the room is rather tense, and I know at this point that something’s wrong. As soon as I sit down, my Dad utters four words that would shake me to my core: “Jake, I have cancer.”

Jack woke up one morning not feeling well. He felt very weak and could not get out of bed. His mother decided to take him to the doctors. The doctors took many tests to figure out what was making him feel that way. After about an hour or two the doctors got the results back from a blood test. Results that would change Jack’s childhood for the worse. Jack has been diagnosed with Leukemia, a blood cancer. Of course, Jack was not sure what that meant but, his parents became worried beyond belief with the long road ahead of them. Scientists and researchers were all involved in the discovery of Leukemia cancer, which increased knowledge of this cancer, decreased deaths and discovered treatments, and started charity groups to fund research.

"Cancer changes your life, often for the better. You learn what's important, you learn to prioritize, and you learn not to waste your time. You tell people you love them” (Siegel 1). When cancer hits, it hits hard. It does not give a break, it does not give a day off. It takes a special sort of person to beat this growing disease. Leukemia is perhaps the worst of all cancers to date. It is especially affecting children more and more in today’s society. One might ask how could a parent that loves their child with their entire heart could cope with seeing their child go through so much suffering? How could they even begin to cope with this? Leukemia is the leading cause of death by disease in children and young adults between the ages 0-20

Well, not quite. She doesn’t say cancer right away. Mom and Dad don’t know all the details yet, and Mom doesn’t reveal the cancer part right away. But she tells you that Henri has to have his kidney removed. And that’s scary. It’s scary to me and I’m seven years older than you are. Your little brother has cancer. You’ll cry, right there in the car, with Henri’s friend Ava in the back seat. Mom will cry a little too. Mom will cry a lot in the next year, she’s just as strong as Henri is. You get home and Henri is in the front lawn. He got to go to Burger King for lunch, in between his tests, and he got a green dinosaur toy. He’s just sitting there, playing. Happy. Looking back on that, I know now how miraculous that is. How incredible bravery is amplified by youthful innocence. You won’t understand that, and that’s ok. There are a lot of