“We have bad news for you Mrs. Fuentes,” said the doctor as he walked into the room. “Oh God, please tell me what is wrong with my daughter!” exclaimed my mother and he said, I am sorry to inform you that Norma has cancer and the tumor has formed on her left kidney and it is starting to spread to her lung as well.” I had never seen my mother cry that much as I did that day when she received that devastating news. I was only five years of age, when the doctors diagnosed me with the life threatening Wilms Tumor that was located on my left kidney. Doctor Williams said that I would have to go through extensive treatments that would include chemotherapy and radiation. Doctor Williams told us the effects that the treatments would have on me, both physical and mental.
The whole year when I battled cancer, it was the most difficult moment of my life. Even though I was very young and unaware of what was happening to me at that point in time, I was determined to fight for my life and get back to my regular self. Doctor Williams took me to the room where most of my treatments would be taking place. He said the first part of my three-step treatment would be radiation. Sadly, the radiation did not completely kill the cancer off. He said we would have to move on to our next, which was chemotherapy. The chemotherapy would not kill the cancer cells but ultimately it would slow their growth down and hopefully get the tumor small enough to get it surgically removed.
After extensive treatments, the tumor was finally small enough to get it surgically removed. Doctor Williams, wearing his sky blue scrubs, took me to a dark room and sat me on a long white table that was illuminated by a huge light hovering over the table like a flying saucer. The surgical procedure went flawless. The treatments had multiple effects on me physically and mentally. I remember the feeling walking down the blank white halls with Doctor Williams by my side, my mind unlike the walls that enclosed me were not blank but very much alive with a mixture of adrenaline and nervousness. After my first radiation treatment, I could feel a change within me but I could not put my finger on it. After a few other treatments of chemotherapy, I looked at myself in the mirror, I could tell I was no longer Norma Fuentes but someone new someone who was relentless and would not give up. The treatments changed the way I would think for the rest of my life. Even though my hair was falling out this did not discourage me from continuing to fight because physical appearances does not define whom you are on the inside.
“Norma wake up,” my mother exclaimed as she whispered in my ear. As soon as I came to my senses, I felt a sense of relief and courageousness because I did not give up on myself and had I faith that it would end well. Thanks to the treatments I received, it changed the way I viewed difficult circumstances I faced in life and it helped me become the strong and persistent person I am today. I realized that life is only beautiful if you live for the moment and not for the future.
-Norma Fuentes