by Mystrywtr

Created on: April 25, 2008

When I was around fifteen years old I started to get these really high fevers. In the middle of a New York winter, I was hanging lights outside in jeans and a short sleeve shirt. This made my parents start to freak out but they never said anything to me.

The following summer when I turned sixteen, I started to get these huge welt marks on my back. They took me to the doctor and he said it was my sweet blood and really bad mosquito bites. He gave me some cream to put on and it soothed it a little bit, they eventually went away on their own after two weeks. A month later is when it really got worse, I started really bad night sweats and itching so bad I was ripping the skin off my legs. They finally took my to another doctor and he diagnosed me with Hodgkin's. He told me parents, they never told me because they never knew how or what to say. He referred me to an oncologist in the city for deeper testing.

So by the time I saw the doctor it was three months. Everyone in the family knew, my family is very big and they all knew and nobody said a word. I knew something was fishy because they let me drive the new car, everyone was buying me stuff. I started to think something was up once I caught on to my mom crying in her room at night. I used to think it was because her and my dad where fighting, so for a short time that's what they had me thinking.

My uncle got involved because he knew somebody in the city, who was a patient of the great Dr. Norma Wolner, she had discovered the cure. Obviously I found all this out later on. They asked my uncle to tell me what was going on because no one else had the strength to face me. It was a Monday afternoon and the biopsy was scheduled for that Thursday morning. I went to see the doctor again, this time we all knew. She explained everything to me and the only question I had asked the doctor to this point was if I was going to live or die. She told me that as long as I follow procedures and I listen to her, everything will be fine.

So here I am sixteen years later and 100% healthy. But I have to thank my parents for not reacting instead of over reacting. I know it sounds a little crazy but it's true. The are from another country and never had anything, and never really knew anything. They learned everything along the way, we taught each other. They did say to me years later that they would have done things a little differently.

They would have educated themselves more on the topic, so if and when they would have know what to say and what to ask. They said buying me things and basically getting me everything to avoid the issue was wrong and they really felt helpless. They did say they would rather have gone away for a weekend with some literature and done it that way. Either way I am just happy that they are fine and I am fine.

Learn more about this author, Mystrywtr.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.