How I Defeated All Odds And Lived To Tell The Tale
# The Devastating Illness
I began feeling really sick right before graduating high school. For a week, I suffered a high fever that wouldn’t subside, until I woke up one morning completely paralyzed. My family rushed me to the emergency room where doctors were perplexed—after extensive testing, they diagnosed me with cancer and said I had just two to three days left to live. Throughout my illness, my fever never dipped below 104 degrees Fahrenheit and at its peak soared dangerously to 108 degrees. None of the medicines were having any effect in lowering my temperature. My organs were failing and attacking each other as my condition rapidly deteriorated. With multiple organ failure and a heart in critical condition, surgery was deemed too risky. A bone marrow transplant also wasn’t an option since my body had grown far too weak.
# A Rare and Deadly Disease
My family braced themselves for my imminent passing. Yet somehow, I clung to life even after being given a one-week survival estimate. Further tests revealed the true culprit—I had been ravaged by parvovirus b19 with severe aplastic anemia. Usually harmless, the virus had preyed upon my undetected iron deficiency and wrecked havoc on my bone marrow. My immune system went into overdrive attacking not just the infection, but every cell in my body. Weeks went by where I couldn’t hold down any food or water, losing all my muscle mass and strength. Doctors warned my mom that I may never walk again or could be left vegetative if I somehow pulled through.
# Against All The Odds
When I was discharged from the hospital after over a month, I had shrunk down to a skeletal 108 pounds and needed round-the-clock care. My younger sister helped my single mother tend to my most basic needs like drinking or taking medications. Through agonizing physical therapy, I relearned how to walk but the recovery process was excruciatingly painful. Despite being given less than a week to live initially and having come so close to permanent disability or death, I battled back from the brink of multiple organ failure through sheer force of will. By some medical miracle, I made it to my high school graduation as predicted.
# A New Lease On Life
Eight years have now passed since my harrowing brush with death from that rare and almost fatal disease. My hematologist remains in awe each time we meet, remarking at how far I’ve come. Although the harsh treatments caused my hair to fall out temporarily, it has grown back thicker and longer than before. I’ve since thrived in college earning a perfect GPA and am currently expecting my first baby who is due in just a few short weeks. Despite facing down some of the worst medical traumas imaginable at such a young age, I refused to let it define my future. I am living proof that when faced with immense adversity and given only a tiny fraction of hope, the capacity of the human spirit to heal and overcome is limitless.
# My Grandmother’s Remarkable Resilience
My maternal grandmother also showcased superhuman strength and fortitude against tremendous medical odds throughout her long life. She survived breast cancer, two heart attacks, lung cancer, skin cancer and more before the age of 65. Later, she endured a violent home invasion and sexual assault in her 80s yet still refused additional help or to move in with family. It wasn’t until her early 90s that we discovered she had been essentially starving herself for over a year due to an undiagnosed esophageal tumor blocking her food intake. Even after multiple other health afflictions and past brushes with death, she rallied to have risky cancer surgery at such an advanced age and remarkably recovered fully. She lived to celebrate her 94th birthday surrounded by loved ones, demonstrating the tenacity and will to live that runs in our family.
# Fighting Through The Pain
A painful dental abscess I could no longer ignore from lack of insurance almost proved lethal as well. The infection had spread throughout the left side of my face, distorting my features beyond recognition and generating agony I had never known before. Only the agonizing throbbing that refused to subside drove me to seek help at a hospital emergency room, where doctors were stunned I was still standing given the severity of the life-threatening infection. Reconstructive surgery was required and it took over a year to accept my altered appearance and new scars—a daily reminder of how close I came to losing not just teeth or facial structure, but my very life due to an easily treatable condition left unchecked.
# Facing Adversity With Determination
Throughout our journeys with illness, injury and misfortune, both my grandmother and I have demonstrated the power of the indomitable human spirit when faced with the starkest of medical adversity. Where others saw only imminent death, we found the inner reserves to keep fighting against any odds and defy every grim prognosis. Though the battles left their marks, we emerged stronger having stared down mortality itself. Our stories serve as proof that no challenge, no matter how insurmountable it seems, can overcome the determination of the human will to survive and thrive.
