I’m 21 going on 71, or so it feels.
I often joke and say, “I’ve been through more than an elderly person.” But sometimes, it’s not a joke at all. It’s how I feel–especially since my doctors say that my body is that of an old woman’s. My story starts when I was 11 months old. I was diagnosed as a severe asthmatic and progressively got worse. Worse to the point that I could no longer walk up a flight of stairs without my mom carrying me. Little did we know, it was not asthma, but a failing heart. I was born with a rare heart disease called restrictive cardiomyopathy.
I RECEIVED MY HEART TRANSPLANT AND IT WAS AS IF I WAS REBORN! I COULD BREATHE, AND NOT ONLY COULD I WALK UP A FLIGHT OF STAIRS, BUT I COULD RUN UP A FLIGHT OF STAIRS.
MY PICC WAS MY “BUDDY” FOR 8 MONTHS.
IT WAS DIFFERENT WHEN I HAD MY HEART TRANSPLANT BECAUSE I NEVER LOOKED VISIBLY SICK, BUT WITH CANCER IT TOOK EVERY OUNCE OF CONFIDENCE I HAD.
CANCER CAN TAKE A LOT OF THINGS, BUT IT COULD NEVER STRIP ME OF MY HAPPINESS AND HOPE; NOTHING COULD STOP ME.
MY JOURNEY WAS A LONG AND ROUGH ONE TO SAY THE LEAST, BUT I AM BACK–EVEN IF MY BODY IS DAMAGED IN OTHER WAYS DUE TO EVERYTHING!
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