I was admitted into the ER a few days before thanksgiving. I was experiencing extreme pain in my liver and I could hardly breathe. It began as a slight pain in my side and I thought nothing of it as I would go to the gym occasionally with my cousin and thought it was just soreness. It began to become worse and worse to the point I couldn’t breathe properly and my parents rushed me to the hospital. They ran some tests on me and I was told I had a very high white blood count. The average person has between 4-11 thousand my count was up to 75 thousand. All the information was coming at me so fast I couldn’t properly comprehend what was going on and what was happening. The doctor told me that my symptoms pointed toward cancer but they had to do more tests to confirm if I did or not have it. I stayed in the ER for two days before being admitted to the hospital. There I was told I had leukemia type ALL. It’s a mutation common in Latin people which causes my type of cancer to be more aggressive but it is still very treatable. For the first few days I felt horrible – my liver pain was awful and I had to use oxygen to help me breathe. This whole experience has been hard on my parents but they’re still very hopeful and cheerful and just worried about my well-being. I am the youngest of the family. I only have one older brother and hearing I had cancer made my mother break down and left my father in disbelief. My family and friends have all visited and been very supportive in trying to keep my hopes up and telling me I’ll beat this. My parents and clinical team are very optimistic that I will get better and I have had the support of many people to help boost my morale. Being only 18, I had just graduated from high school. All the news at once was hard on me. I barely graduated this year waiting to see where life takes me and by bad luck I ended up with cancer but I still have plans to continue educating myself and spending the time I have at home to better myself and hope to build a future for myself when I hopefully beat this cancer.
Josue’s LifeList:
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A new TV
- New PS5 games and accessories.