Last year, when I got into college, as you might imagine, I got to know new people. Different stereotypes, new faces, different styles and different characters. The first week of college is the best yet the most confusing one. You wouldn’t know all the students in each class you have, and you get to know them just by sharing some thoughts about how strange the lecturer is. Probably you get to know their name, where they’re from and what time they woke up to arrive at college on time.
One thing I learnt was to always remember that everybody has a story…everyone has been through or is going through something which was difficult to experience; maybe it was losing a family member or a friend, fighting sickness, being a victim of domestic violence and countless other possible stories. I sometimes wonder if I’m the only one who faces problems in my life, just because everyone around me seems so happy, constantly smiling. However, just because their faces are covered in beautiful smiles does not necessarily mean they haven’t been through or are going through anything rough.
I met an exceptional girl at the beginning of the semester of my first year before a lecture we had together. She was always smiling. I never saw her with a different facial expression in the two months I had been seeing her every day during English classes, and always wondered and thought about her bubbly and sweet character. This was all until I added her as a friend on Facebook and was looking through her photo albums when I saw a picture of a younger her. I was reading the description of the photo and I couldn’t believe it.
“Surviving cancer is not the end of an extremely unpleasant story. It is the beginning of a beautiful one. Thing is, I can truly look back at myself and realize how happy I was, even though I was weak I smiled daily and even though I was little I fought hard to survive,” she wrote. It shook me, and I was confused at the fact that she had always been smiling, despite her experience. She also stated that no matter how big the struggle is, if you fight it, you will get through it. The next day I had a chat with her at school, and I was stunned about her cancer survival story.
When she was just a baby, she was diagnosed already with cancer, Stage 4 Neuroblastoma. She had proptosis in her right eye and a large mass originating from her left adrenal gland. She stayed in hospital and started chemotherapy immediately. After 6 months of aggressive chemo, she flew to St. Georges Hospital in London together with her family where she underwent surgery to remove the tumor. The surgery went through well and she was back to Malta after a month. She was a hospital patient for another month in Malta for severe observations. She flew to Royal Marsden Hospital in Sutton for her last treatment of high dose chemotherapy.
She was back to Malta after two months, and after 10 months she was healthy and cancer free. She attended follow-ups for several years but now she is completely cancer-free and she has grown into a beautiful and surely exceptional young lady. It’s extremely difficult for a young child to survive through a cancer that aggressive, so she must be considered as a very lucky girl. She thanks all the people who helped her family and herself both financially and emotionally, as times like those bring the need for support and encouragement.
One must not take any other individual for granted because you never know what he/she has or been going through. That is why one should think before he/she speaks, and always respect everybody who’s around them. It’s unbelievable how once you are growing up, it becomes so easy to take anyone or anything for granted — be it health, people close to you and even relationships. You truly know the value of something or someone once it’s taken away from you. So cherish and thank God for what you have… it might not be there tomorrow.
