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Beatrice

broken image

"I had just turned 20 when I was told I would probably die. I was all alone, living Bournemouth, England. At 19, I pursued my dream of leaving Portugal and moving to the U.K. I bought a one way ticket, had no job lined up, no place of my own, but it was my dream. I got a job as a waitress, crashed at a friend's place, and was making it work. And then my dream was shattered when I found I had Ewing Sarcoma, a dangerous and fatal bone cancer. I chose to return to Portugal to spend the rest of my time with my family. Chemo isn't as hard as I thought. But it makes me exhausted. I feel like a zombie some days. Even though I probably should focus on rest, I chose to enroll in college to study education. I even participate in the "praxe", the freshman activities at my school. People say I'm a fighter, but I'm not. I'm a normal person, like everyone else. I'm not afraid of dying. I'm afraid of not living. I'm afraid of what I'm leaving behind. How will my family survive without me?"