Cancer: A Short Story

When my dad came home that evening he sat me down and asked me if I knew what cancer was. I had an idea so I just nodded my head, he went on to tried to explain to me how bad the cancer was that my mom had been diagnosed with. Seeing my dad so afraid scared me. The fear I felt then led me to realize that I needed to try and hide it because it would only hurt my dad more to see his children so upset. I did my best to help, I tucked my little sisters into bed while my mom was away at the hospital, read them stories and did the best I could at preparing snacks to comfort them. After my mom arrived home and she recovered from the surgery she started chemotherapy. The miserable treatment that attacks the cancer also makes her very ill. Every other week she was sick. Before every bad week I wanted to cry, but that wouldn’t help anyone. Lane and Kenna already were crying, if I cried it could only hurt my parents

This leads to where I started back at my house when my dad told my sister and I that my grandfather was diagnosed with Leukemia. That was one of the hardest things for me to hear considering that my grandfather was a big part of my life. My dad said that he was going to be in hospice care without chemotherapy because he said: “That he had lived his life.” Two weeks after being put into hospice care my grandfather passed away with all of his family by his side.

Cancer is sometimes referred to as the big C, the C word. When people hear it, they freeze up in silence as though they have seen a ghost. In October, 2005 at the age of 3 I was diagnosed with a rare cancer that only affects 2 to 3 people out of million. After laying on the couch for several days, and complaining of a stomach I was taken to the doctor there we found out that I had Liver Sarcoma. At this time my mom was in the navy so I was admitted into Madigan Army Medical Center, but left soon later and went to Children's Hospital. I didn't really understand what was happening at that time because everything was happening, so fast that I couldn't keep up. From my Nana moving from Texas to Washington St to live with us, to being in the hospital

I remember thinking about how fortunate I was for having none of my family members to die from cancer. It was just another late night of working hard in the laboratory trying to find something. It was precisely 10 o’clock at night where I had never felt so accomplished. I had finally done it, I found the cure to cancer. At first I couldn’t believe my eyes when I had been reading the chart, but when I gave the antibodies to cancer patients their symptoms left and their cancer had been cured. I was 35 when I had found the cure and I lived in Iowa City, which is where I met my wife. I called my wife, Selena, and told her about my discovery and she started crying. It was a different type of cry..no it wasn’t tears from joy, it was tears from sadness. I asked Selena why she was crying. That day was never forgotten, not because of my discovery, but of the news that my wife told me. Our son passed away that afternoon from Lung Cancer. I was devastated. I went into a deep depression and I kept asking myself, “why couldn’t you have found the cancer just a couple hours earlier.” My story was all over the news, for awhile I never cared about anything but my son. I had received an extremely high number of money. I didn’t care about money anymore. I gave over half of it to people who needed it more than I did. I didn’t feel like doing interviews until about 6 months after his death. I learned something from my experience, In order to achieve your goal, sacrifices will need to be made. I found the cure to the most deadliest thing in the world but I had lost my most prized

The sirens get closer causing me to sprint into the dark and spooky undergrowth. I make it a good distance from the road before my feet trip over nothing and I faceplant to the ground.

I decided to go to the lake since I was probably wasn’t going back to sleep. I crept down stairs and started up the car. It was an uneventful ride to the lake. When I finally got there, one light was on and it was pointed to an empty parking space closest to the steps going to the lake. I hopped out of the car and started down the stairs to the lake.

After a long time of tears, torture, and heart-ache, my mom was sitting on the couch why I was on my knees leaning on the armrest listening to her why she talks, with a bright smile on her face she calmly said, “They can’t find any cancer in me.” My face lit up, as my smile got bigger and bigger. I jumped on my mom giving her a big hug just screaming out of

In September of my junior year of high school, my mom told me for the third time that she had cancer. She had spent the entire summer coughing. It was a bad summer cold or maybe a stubborn case of bronchitis. No one could seem to figure out what was causing the cough. A late summer bronchoscopy finally solved the case. It was cancer. Calmly, she reassured me on that September day, “It’s an early stage cancer. They say it’s very treatable. We’ve been down this road before.” The next nine months was a road that no one in my family had traveled. Frequent doctor visits, chemotherapy treatments, and hospitalizations became our new normal. We painstakingly watched as each round of chemo treatments devastated and weakened her. Through everything, my mom was resilient, tough, and determined to live.

I will never forget my last day in the hospital after being diagnosed. Finally after nearly a month of bad food and sharing a room with a four year old having just been diagnosed with cancer they were finally letting me leave. I almost felt out of place returning back to my home Pulling up on my driveway I felt scared; I knew my life had changed forever. I distinctly remember clutching at my wrist, the wrist where my hospital identification bracelet was as if I was missing something. I tried holding back my tears; however, the more I tried the more futile it seemed. I kept replaying the doctor’s voice in my head, the voice I overheard from the hall when I was supposed to be sleeping. “Your son is very sick. His life is about to change forever and it will take time for him to adjust “ the doctor said to my mom. Thinking back to this, I can only dream of discovering Emerson then; how much better these last few years would have been if I had. I could

In 2012 my mother was diagnosed with breast cancer, for the following year and a half I watched my mother undergo multiple surgeries, daily radiation, and a variety of other intensive treatments. Throughout the entire process I watched my mother physically and mentally deteriorate. At the time my knowledge of the disease was minimal and not only was I fearful of my mothers future, but I was also unaware of the physiological functions that would overcome my mothers body eternally. Following a year and a half of agonizing and aggressive treatments my family received the news that my mother was officially in complete remission. Throughout my mothers battle with breast cancer my family and I met countless individuals who were

March 1987, my father was diagnosed with prostate cancer. It was very hard to believe and accept that he was ill. He was only 58 years old after all and I just started my first year of college at the age of 17 years old. Prostate cancer did not wait a long time to take our father away from us. Six months after he was

That day has haunted me for eight years. Early that fall morning my parents had taken my grandmother for her doctor’s appointment and when they returned they had news. I was sat down and told something most ten year olds do not ever have to hear, my grandmother had lung cancer. I froze; not saying a word my mom reassured me everything was going to be ok. I reacted just like a

One day, on a crisp summer evening, my two brothers had visited from sebring.My mother had told us to sit down on the couch and thats what we did. I knew something was wrong when my brothers looked at me worriedly...Logan started crying and I got really worried, then my mom began with the words “Olivia, I know you don't want to hear this but, i’m diagnosed with cancer”....she explained how she was diagnosed with it, she had a lot of tumors and a lump in her throat, I didn't believe this, my life had changed forever at that moment, I thought to myself, how was i going to cope with this? The change would be hard but maybe it will bring something good hopefully

I cannot describe what I felt when my mom told me she had cancer. I was sad, I was scared; I did not even know if I felt anything. My mom, however, stayed positive and hopeful while I stayed quiet and seemingly apathetic. There was an obvious ironic contrast between the emotional state of me and the woman who actually had cancer.

I clearly remember the day I found out about my granddad's passing. I was at school. It was a normal, joyful day. My dad was planning on picking me up, but instead my friend's mom picked me up. He would not tell me why, but I did not think much of it. I remember the car ride to my house. My friend's mom would not tell me why she was driving me home; all she told me was, "Just know, Ryan, that we will be here for you no matter