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Bobby Drennan

Mrs. Watkins

MWF 11:30

20 September 2016

Cancer is a Passport to Intimacy

Did you know an estimated 10,640 people will die from Acute Myeloid

Leukemia this year? Yearly 156,420 people are diagnosed with Acute Myeloid

Leukemia; the five-year survival rate of Acute Myeloid Leukemia is 25% of

the people affected by this particular cancer. This specific cancer is an

extremely bad sickness, but most cancers are. My girlfriend Abby, was

diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia in March of 2014. Abby is a

remarkably strong woman for the battle she has stumbled upon with cancer.

This is Abby s journey and how it affected her as well as myself as we took

on her illness together.

Acute Myeloid Leukemia is a cancer of the blood; it is the growth of

abnormal white blood cells that accumulate in the bone marrow. The

symptoms consist of aplastic anemia, paleness, fatigue, and severe bruising.

In Abbys case her Leukemia symptom was all of the following but was

particularly diagnosed with Idiopathic Aplastic Anemia. Which is where the

bone marrow does not produce enough blood cells. Taking on chemotherapy

has its side effects, low blood cell count; which leads to low immune system,

also causing you to catch illnesses quicker than most people in general.
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Along with that side effect comes damaging of the lining of the mouth, and

loss of hair.

Abby Gamble is from Pauls Valley Oklahoma; she is eighteen years

old. We started dating on December 23. 2013, three months prior to her

diagnoses of Acute Myeloid Leukemia in March of 2014. Before the whole

cancer stump approached her life she was an all-star softball player; trust me

everyone knew who she was. She played on a travel softball team out of

Tecumseh Oklahoma, they traveled all over the place; Kansas, Texas A&M,

and Colorado. Until this day she still brags about what a stud she was; I just

let her vaunt about herself because that is what good boyfriends do. That

was her life every weekend was a new place to travel to play ball until she

was diagnosed.

Abbys attitude towards having cancer was pretty iffy; most days total

silent treatment, others were talking my ear off. I mean what would you say

if you were fifteen, in a hospital, with a cancer that has twenty-five percent

survival rate? Abbys behavior was quite strange to say the very least. I

remember walking in some days and she pretty much did not want me there.

I used to tell Abby how much of an inspiration she was to the world because

of what she was accomplishing as a fifteen-year-old. Who do you know that

has beaten cancer that young and not had serious psychological injuries.

When I had first gotten the call Abby had cancer I was in complete

shock not knowing what to do I immediately dropped to my knees on the

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ground, sobbing in confusion of why her? I began to pray; I prayed that she

would be strong, that she would battle through this all and come home safe

and sound. It changed me as a person for sure, you really do not even know

what is next until it is right in front of your face. It has made me grow as

person and come to realization that you have to cherish the important values

in your life; you never know how long you have with that person. It was if we

were all staring death in the face with Abby, we never knew what was going

to be next with her; good or bad. This experience has also changed the way I

look at people. I see the bigger picture of all things now, how there is so

much more to peoples stories than what we may see. Abbys experience

with cancer not only changed her life but changed mine as well. Abby

inspired me to never give up and to never let down.

When I say what is life without cancer? I cannot elaborate the

changes it has made in Abbys life, or anyone who has been affected with

cancer but I can on how it has changed me as a person. In my lifetime I have

been surrounded by cancer, I feel as if everyone except myself has had it,

and of course I do not wish that upon myself; but it has made me come to

the realization that I may in fact be next. Looking back, I remember when my

grandfather had been diagnosed with cancer. After going through two years

of treatment he finally gave up. He left me with a message on his death bed

What makes you man is not what is on the outside, it is about what is on the

inside. I have lived my whole life by doing that exactly. Taking his advice

has lead me to be a better man.

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Cancer alone has affected my life in various reasons, from it affected

my grandpa to affecting Abby. As Abby and I took the journey on together,

many lessons came to par in all of the different situations. Abby having

cancer has changed me for the better by learning from her alone. Abby

taught me to never give up, and when times get tough to dig deep and

inspire instead. Also learning from my grandfather, to follow your heart and

do not let anyone change you no matter how hard times get. As cancer took

a toll on many in my life, I have come to be thankful for the things it has

taught me as a person also for my future as well.