OPINION: Friend's cancer diagnosis affects your life
A best friend is someone with whom you can share your biggest laughs, your best memories and your important milestones. You would never imagine such a large word becoming part of the story you share.
Cancer is a word that changes everything. But when it’s no longer just a word you hear or read about, and instead a part of your best friend’s life, it takes on a whole new meaning.
When you hear the word cancer, you think the worst; or at least I did. When I found out there was a possibility the knee pain my friend Austyn was having could be a cancerous mass in her femur, I immediately thought I could lose one of my best friends.
What makes the matter worse is there was a period of time when we just hadn’t talked in a while. No specific reason, but we were both busy. Even then, she has always been pinned on my phone, and I did and always will consider her as one of my best friends. We had started talking more and more and were finally starting to become close again when I found out.
Finding out was clearly one of the hardest things for me to process. My mom asked, “Have you talked to Austyn today?”
I responded by saying yes. All I knew was that she had to get an MRI on her knee since that is where the pain was, and that she had gone twice to the doctor that day. Except that wasn’t all. The tone in mom’s voice meant something was wrong.
She told me to go talk to her and ask how her appointment went. So, in a slight panic, I went downstairs and texted her. She responded, asking if we could face time and I obviously said yes. She started by saying that she has some sort of mass in her femur, and they don’t know much about it. There is a high possibility it is cancerous, but they didn’t know for sure yet.
I was stunned. Last I heard, her knee was on the verge of an ACL tear and now it could be cancer? All I could think about is how I may lose my best friend. Then what would happen?
She told me everything would be ok. I told her I’m sorry this happened to her and she said it was ok, just keep her in my prayers. I kept it together on the phone, but as soon as the call ended, my anxiety skyrocketed.
I went upstairs, looked at my mom, and tears instantly started flowing. I probably cried for an hour straight, thinking about all the possibilities and everything that could go wrong. I mean, she’s only 15 and has to go through all of this when this shouldn’t have even been a worry for another 60-something years. Why her? Why did God choose the sweetest person to have to go through this and miss out on the things she loves?
About a week or two later, we found out it was cancerous. I didn’t cry this time. Part of that was because I knew it would all be okay. I also knew now that there was a low possibility of her dying since the mass was contained to just her femur.
Austyn told me that it was most likely osteosarcoma, bone cancer, and that she also needed to start chemotherapy. There are different types of chemo, but she unfortunately had to take the one that caused her to lose her hair and experience other side effects. She lost her spark, and I know she noticed, too. But what did we expect? Cancer’s taking a lot out of her. She is constantly tired, but still high-spirited and she is amazing for that.
She has multiple social media platforms as well, and following all of those really shows how much support and courage she has. It also gives me the intake I want to hear when she is too worn out to tell me.
Austyn has been incredibly blessed with the support she has had throughout this journey. She has also been given many opportunities, such as an upcoming trip to Hawaii. She is doing amazing now and has really learned to live with osteosarcoma.
It wasn’t fair and it won’t ever be, but God chose one of his strongest warriors to fight this battle. She is my biggest inspiration considering how high spirited and optimistic she has been throughout this entire process. She now is officially cancer free and just has to undergo eight more rounds of chemo prior to her surgery recovery.
Be grateful for what you have and don’t take life for granted. You never know what could happen to not only you, but to a loved one.
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