Live and Let Live
I still cry when I tell this story but I'll tell you, so you know what can happen if you don't say how you feel to those you love. I am Crystela Saha and I am going to tell you about something that happened to me. My best friend, Bowa, got terminal lung cancer which killed him. I only had myself to help me after the loss of my best friend which hurt me in many ways, I couldn't imagine.
He came to school like nothing was wrong but I could see something was wrong. He didn't want to run, when he would run all the time, and was always running out of breathe. I knew that he saw that I had noticed and how wouldn't I have we had been friends since, forever.
After school he came over to my house and that was when I got it out of him, he had stage three lung cancer (terminal). He had known he was at risk for cancer of some kind but didn't know which. He had found out the day before and didn't want everyone to know, yet. He had been through some hard times but nothing like this.
I didn't know what to think when he told me. I didn't know what I would do without him because we had been friends forever. I would go onto the computer during my free time to find out some information about the exact type of cancer he had. He was such a good friend that I had to help in some way or another and I would do as much as I could.
The one day, when I was on the computer, I found the name of a hospital that specialized in Bowa`s form of cancer. I printed off all that I could find about the hospital and phoned the number for the hospital. I told the person who answered the phone what was going on and if they could help him in any way at all but I left his name out of the conversation. The lady said that they couldn't stop the cancer at the stage; it was at because it would be too strong to fight. She also said that they could help him feel more like himself as long as he doesn't over do it when he is out of the hospital. I ordered more information directly from the hospital and gave everything to Bowa and his family to read over and see if he would like to go.
His family also phoned the hospital to see what they would do exactly to help him feel better. They told them that they would find a drug that would help control the cancer and slow its growth so he could live longer. They would run some tests to see if it was the right type of cancer and see exactly where the cancer was at and what it was doing. They would then put him into some physiotherapy to help with his lung compasity so he wouldn't have problems walking even short distances. When he would be at the hospital he would be on full oxygen so he wouldn't have to strain himself to breath. His family was thankful that they could try to help him that much. They decided that he would go to the hospital to get the treatment.
After a week off school because he spent the whole time at the hospital Bowa came back to school. He looked much more like himself than he had in a long time. He actually looked better then I had ever seen him. We went through the day like always and I didn't think anything different from any other day but, I found a note from Bowa in my locker at the end of the day. It didn't say that he liked me but the way he had wrote it said it all. The note was thanking me for helping him feel more like himself for longer and that I was his best friend.
After I read the note over a few times I decided that I would write him a note back. I said that I didn't mind trying to help him feel like himself because he was my best friend and always would. Bowa seemed very happy until Loti asked me to the up coming dance which I would normally go to with Bowa. After this, Bowa's health became worse and worse.
The hospital did its best to help him live longer but he had lost his will power and so nothing helped. A week before the dance he asked me if I could stay with him at the hospital so he had somebody to talk to and not only TV and books which eh never really liked anyway. I stayed and so I was there when it happened. It looked as if he had fallen asleep but I know that he had passed. I rang the buzzer to get a nurse. The nurse came in looked at me crying and to Bowa and left. I know that she must have called his family because they were there within minutes.
Bowa's mother invited me to his funeral which happened to also be the day of the dance. I decided to go to both. Bowa's mother asked me if I could write a speech for his funeral which I could also say at the dance, I knew Bowa told his mother to tell that to me.
I called all attention at both the funeral and the dance. I read the same speech at both. I knew that most of the people at the dance were in shock mostly because they didn't see it. The people at the funeral tough I don't think even heard me.
The next day I opened my locker to find letters from students I had never heard of and I must missed it or something at the top of the pile was a letter from Bowa, saying" I LOVE YOU, CRYSTELA. THANKS."