October
22, 2008
When does one ever expect the
worst? I know my family and I didn’t
expect it eleven years ago having received that fateful call to head to
Children’s to receive the worst possible news: the cancer had spread and I had
three months to live. Even more than
that, we didn’t expect the worst this past January. While things turned out for the best in the
end, for a couple of weeks, we didn’t know whether I would be in a fight for my
life once more. As most of you know, I
was having some bloating problems and went in for an annual checkup with my
doctor. When she decided to do an
ultrasound, we weren’t thinking anything would show up. But having spent more than half of my life in
hospitals and doctor’s offices, my mother and father and I have become experts
at knowing when bad news is about to hit.
Sure enough, my right ovary, I affectionately named Henrietta, was
completely covered in cyst upon cyst and my left ovary, Henrietta’s twin Henri,
had cysts on it as well. I ended up
having surgery to find out whether it was what we feared it was; whether it was
cancer. Henrietta had to be removed
completely, but Henri had to stay due to the many complications that would
arise with having a complete hysterectomy at such a young age and with more
complications from hormone treatments that could cause more tumor growth
elsewhere in my body. Needless to say,
Henri and Henrietta were not the harbingers of cancer we initially thought them
to be.
Like all the health issues and
problems that I’ve faced hereto in my life, this past episode continues to
teach me about faith and hope, love, family and laughter. It shows me to continually remind myself the
value of each day I have, and to be so very grateful of all that I have. It hones my already wacky and sad to say morbid
sense of humor (who names their body parts and continues to call them by those
names with affection?), and it makes my family and I stronger as individuals
and as a whole. It is in the trying
times of our lives that our truest selves are revealed, and hopefully knowing
who you are deep down will make you strive to always be that person, or to
change what you don’t like.
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| This is Mike. He shaved his head at the acutal Denver St. Baldrick's event. I shaved two weeks later due to a wedding. |
With the way that this year started,
I was unsure of whether the rest of the year would be overshadowed by those
first few months, and so I was unprepared for the excitement to follow. In March, I became a published author in an
on campus literary magazine. The piece
that was published was a short non-fiction story of my initial diagnosis as
well as the basic story of my Glad to Be Alive Day. Needless to say, I was shocked when I decided
to submit the piece for publication and even more shocked when it got picked to
actually be published. Also in March, I
made a bet with a friend/nurse of mine from the hospital, Mike, that if he
would shave his head for St. Baldrick’s, I would shave my head as well. It turned out to be a race to see who could
raise the most money in two weeks. More
importantly, it was great to be a part of such an amazing event to help raise a
lot of money for childhood cancer research.
Then at the end of May, I moved into my very first apartment. Before I had surgery in January, I was
planning to move into an apartment, but I ended up not due to the
circumstances. It’s been a learning
process these past five months, and I can’t begin to verbalize the joy that I
have gotten from living on my own. My
only complaint is that it’s lonely living by oneself, and due to the hectic
life I lead between school, volunteering, family and friends I’ve not been able
to entertain and have people over.
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| This was Mike's revenge when he shaved my head. |
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| At the top of Vail Pass. From left: Jordan, Travis, me, Austin, my Dad (Allyn) |
So as you can see it’s been a very,
very, exciting and eventful year so far.
I am astounded by all that has happened in such a short time. It seems that this has been a year when I’ve
really come to realize that if you want something you must go after it with all
your passion and energy. Some people
think that achieving your dreams is just luck, but it’s more than that, it’s a
belief in something that you want more than anything, something you are willing
to work towards and sacrifice for. Life
is truly what you make it. I’ve been
blessed with people who are willing to help me achieve my dreams, and I can
only hope that I will be able to give back in the years to come for all that I
have been given.
Happy
11th Glad to Be Alive Day, everyone!
Celebrate like we haven’t celebrated and continue to believe in the hope
that each day brings. Dream big and
believe in those dreams, so that they too can become a reality. Go out and conquer your own mountains. And remember:
The
mind determines what’s possible. The
heart surpasses it. – Pilar Coolinta
For the original version of this letter, click here.
Below are more pictures from both St. Baldrick's and the Courage Classic:
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| Finally bald. Wait why does Mike have hair? ;-) |
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| Austin and I on the tandem. |
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