Note: I was given Thalia's consent before publishing this to YWP.
Last year
April of 2023
Our story begins
Thalia and I were talking in class
She told me she couldn’t call after school because of a doctor’s appointment
Lately she’d been feeling under the weather
Neither of us questioned
The possibilities
Of what might be wrong
The following day
My mom told me the news
Thalia was sent in an ambulance to the downtown hospital
The doctors didn’t even know what was wrong
All they knew was
Something had shown up on the CT scan
She was in the hospital for two weeks straight
I was bombarded at school with questions about her absence
I made “Get Well Soon Cards” and brought gifts
Hoping it would cheer her up
Last year
My best friend
Had an extremely rare tumor
Only 2% of all tumors were of this type
The only way to remove it was surgery
At the end of those two weeks
She had the surgery
And was able to go home a few days later
She stayed home the rest of the school year
Everyone missed her presence
I visited her constantly
Hoping it would distract her
From the stitched-up cut on her stomach
Doctors' appointments became normal
But the story’s not over yet
One doctor’s visit
They found the tumor to be cancerous
Last year
My best friend
Had cancer
Her case was unheard of
Only 1,000 people had ever had it
She left school early that year
We all made a big poster, signed it, and brought it to her house
Her parents had a basket outside their house for gifts
Most days that basket was filled
I visited in between chemotherapy rounds
Hoping to distract her from the sickness
Hoping
Someday
She would be okay again
Every day
Was a battle
She faced
Last year
My best friend
Beat cancer
In September of 2023
She rang the bell
Her resilience and courage
Cannot compare
To that of any other
She fought incredibly hard
And without her in my life
I would never be
Who I am today.
Comments
I'm so sorry that you had that experience. It must have been awful and neither you nor your friend deserved to go through that. The poem is great and sends a powerful message, there aren't many about this topic so I love the honesty and imagery you used.
Thank you! Thalia is an amazing friend, and we thought her story might show others that things really do get better. When experiencing rough times, it's hard to see that things get better and that there is hope for everyone, so I wrote this and got her consent to publish it here.
This poem gave me goosebumps. You two are both so strong. I cannot imagine what your friend must have been through, though I have experienced something similar with my mom, (she's okay now) and I know how hard it is, especially at such a young age. People like Thalia are the reason I want to become a pediatric oncologist when I grow up. Tell her she's an inspiration, you are a truly talented poet <3
Thanks, I'm glad your mom's okay now. Thalia says that she also wants to become a neurosurgeon too.
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