Life is Short by Kelsey

Life is Short by Kelsey - October 2013 Scholarship Essay

Four years ago on Christmas Eve a very close family friend, Mrs. Liza, sat my mom and I down and told us she had received the terrible news that she had been diagnosed with breast cancer. I was in complete and total shock. How could this be happening? Why Mrs. Liza? What had she done to deserve this awful disease? All of these questions rushed into my mind all at once and I began to tear up. Mrs. Liza looked directly at me and told me that I had absolutely nothing to worry about and that she had already beaten cancer three other times so why should this time be any different. Knowing that she was so confident about her survival rate made me feel relieved, like I did not have to worry about her because I knew she could handle it on her own. For a while Mrs. Liza seemed completely fine, like she had never even been diagnosed with cancer. She started to undergo chemo treatments and radiation treatments in Huston, Texas. For about six months she would go to the hospital several times a week and receive her treatments, which never seemed to faze her once again. The chemo known as "the red devil" was what made all of us, her included, realize how sick she really was. She stared to lose her appetite and she had to be put on oxygen to help her breathe properly. Mrs. Liza then decided to undergo a mastectomy, which is the removal of her breasts. Due to how weak her body was at the time, she could only get one done at a time. After her first surgery things began to look up. She was able to stop chemo and radiation, she gained her appetite back, was able to come off of the oxygen, and she even started to grow some of her hair back. The doctors told her that her breast cancer was in remission and we were all ecstatic. Half of a year later at one of her monthly check ups she received even more bad news, the cancer was back and this time it had spread into her lungs. Two weeks after the news she left Huston, Texas and came back to Cleveland, Mississippi. By now it was April 16, 2012 which just so happened to be her 42nd birthday. She decided to spend her birthday sitting at home with her two sons and just spending time with them. On Friday April 19, 2012 at eight o'clock she told her husband to call all of their friends to go over to the house and hangout, that Saturday morning she passed away. I honestly believe that she knew she was going to die so she wanted to get the opportunity to see her close friends one last time before she left. Mrs. Liza was an amazing woman who was just like and aunt to me. She taught me that life is short so why not enjoy it while you are here. Mrs. Liza also taught me to always enjoy the life that is given to you, and even though it may be tough sometimes you just have to let the world see you smile and know that everything will be okay in the end. Throughout her two year battle with cancer she lived by that every single moment. She was never seen without her beautiful smile and she always filled any room she was in with her amazing laughter. I will always try to live my life the way she did, with a smile and a laugh.