Eleni: A Cancer Survivor

“Long Beautiful Hair,” wrote by Ann Hood, is a piece most would assume just to be a narrative of how the author goes through different hair phases in her lifetime. However, that is only the superficial meaning; Hood’s piece is metaphorically set up for a greater purpose. If analyzed correctly, her piece is a complex explanation of a life lesson that people often struggle with: figuring out who they are created to be. In order for her to convey the message fully to the audience, she tells her story in a time progressing sequence while also using rhetorical strategies such as pathos and a metaphor.

At the time I entered the room, my world collapsed. My mother was lying on the bed and crying after the surgery. I was only 10 years old but I knew what cancer means. So overwhelmed by my fear and unrest, I lost hope for my life: how can a ten-year-old boy live without his mom?

“Cancer,” is a word that punctures the heart, chills the bones, and boggles the mind. People Like That Are the Only People Here,” by Lorrie Moore is a heart-wrenching short story depicting the emotional struggles and hardships of a mother who must grapple the fact that her baby has cancer. Moore’s use of fanciful, dark paradoxes and metaphors, a whimsical and haunting tone, and a unique symbolism immerses readers into the ghastly environment of observing the impending death that waits before a loved one, conveying the notion that when one is in danger of losing their loved one, they must enter the fantasy realm to maintain their sanity.

Topic of Cancer by Christopher Hitchens is a powerful tale of a person diagnosed with cancer. Hitchens likens having cancer to a trip through a strange town with a strange dialogue. He says this best by saying “I see it as a very gentle and firm deportation, taking me from the country of the well across the stark frontier that marks off the land of the malady.” (Hitchens) I am fortunate not to have a personal experience to measure the one of Mr. Hitchens but I do have several second hand experiences from the death of my Great-Grandmother, My Grandmother and my best friend Alice. I truly believe cancer is one of the lonely roads anyone must ever travel but like the Author adrift in Tumortown those close to the people involved ultimate have a piece of themselves live or die with them.

I could not believe me. Cancer was standing right before me. The Cancer I was so desperately trying to hide for so many years was standing next to Aarish.

The hospital for me wasn’t something that I dreaded going to because realistically I knew it was coming. It started to become a monthly sometimes-weekly theme in my life, the only constant one. Well I’m one of those girls that the Make A Wish Foundation would love to get their hands on. When I was at the age of ten years old is when my battle with the big old monster began. I was diagnosed with chronic myeloid leukemia, yeah it sounds big and scary, but its not that bad at least that’s what I tell myself. For those of you that are blessed with not knowing what it is, I will be your doctor for the moment and let you know. Chronic myeloid leukemia is a form of cancer that affects the bone marrow and blood in your body. Well that pretty much sums up what the past seven years of my life has been

“You have cancer, and it is spreading to the rest of your body. See, in the x-ray, it began in the chest, but now it is spreading to…” the doctor explained, but I tuned him out. I was going to die, and there was nothing I could do about it. I looked outside the window and feel my eyes burn. Tears fell onto my cheeks as the news sank in.

Examining the deep lines etched into his already sunken face, he leaned against the sink, slowly breathing in and out. The word cancer has been ringing in his ears continuously for the past seven days, tormenting his mind until he couldn’t take it any longer. As his fist hit the mirror, shards of glass flying to the floor, he began to cave. Blood dripped down his arm, but there was no pain as nothing compares to the heaviness that his diagnosis brought. Despite multiple visits with multiple doctors, the young man found it hard to grasp the concept, hard to believe what was being told to him. In response to this, he had not let himself fully accept his diagnosis until that moment in the bathroom, the moment that he found himself

It was March 2012 when I had a fever and this strange lump appeared. I knew my life was about to change as I was admitted into the hospital for my chemotherapy. It terrified me because I hated hospital . Hospitals remind me of blood and the dying which made them horrible. However, seeing babies and old folks who were diagnosed with diseases broke my heart. I wished I could help ease their pain. I saw a little five-year-old boy with needles around his body and a pipe in his mouth. He was diagnosed with liver cancer. “He is too small to bear that kind of pain; he should have been able to enjoy his childhood, why is this happened to him?” I muttered. His parents seemed to be alright seeing their son’s condition, and their words made me speechless. “God loves him more, He knows he can handle the pain, even if God takes him away, we’ll be more than content because we know God will take good care of him.”

“You have cancer,” are three words that no one ever wants to hear or be told. These three words provoke emotions that are unexplainable. I, personally, have never been told these cruel words, but a loved one has. My mom, best friend, and hero was diagnosed with breast cancer two years ago. We were at the airport getting ready to board our flight to Colombia, where we had not visited in twelve years. The excitement of seeing our family after such a long time was quickly interrupted with the news we received. I may not have been the one diagnosed, but that does not mean that my life was not greatly impacted.

I just stood there in silence, not moving, not knowing what to do. Blood cancer... what was that? What did that mean? Of course now, looking back I can see I still had the innocence any seven year old would have. Not seeing what I now see as obvious. What I wouldn’t do to go back and spend time with my grandfather, of the time he had left.

As we all have heard, a woman's hair is her crowning glory. Indeed, when you look at Danica Elaine Audrey D. Valdez, the first thing that can make your eyes locked is her long, bouncy, lustrous , and black hair that cascades down to her back. Then, as you move on to her face, its ovalness and silky soft skin that can be likened to Belle, one of the Disney Princesses, can surely captivate your attention. When her eyes are laid on you, being investigated by Sherlock Holmes is the feeling that will arise because she is a doe-eyed lass though it is hard to notice at times due to the spectacles she's wearing. Nevertheless, there's so much more than what meets us in our eyes. Amazingly, her body remains slim even though she loves indulging herself

Cancer is one of the most destructive and scariest diseases that anyone could develop. According to statistics, there is approximately a 38.5% chance of getting cancer in one’s lifetime. Even if you personally do not get cancer you will live through the destructiveness of cancer from someone close to you because cancer does not discriminate; cancer kills young, old, weak and strong. I myself have lived through this horrible experience and have seen how it completely destroys and tears a family apart. I have lived through all the pain it makes the patient go through. I have seen, however how medical staff bring family together, creates hope for the impossible, and strengthen a patient's will to fight, and that is what I want to undertake.

“You have Cancer.” A single sentence that is among the most devastating words one could hear from a doctor today. They immediately cause one to go into shock then fear then shock, swinging back and forth like a pendulum in an old clock. Suddenly, time becomes the most valuable resource known to man and one will sacrifice everything else to get more. Cancer, has followed me through life almost like my own shadow, never truly touching me but gripping those I love. Who knew that three years ago sitting at the kitchen table my life would be flipped upside down, and I would lose all the time I thought I had.

Beep! beep! beep! That is the sound you will hear in any hospital room - that was the sound my family and I heard every Thursday morning for eight years. Cancer is a word that no one wants to hear. It is a word that brings hope, anger, denial, and fear. Cancer - cancer changes your life. You learn what is important, not to waste your time, and to tell people you love them.