Dealing with cancer is a relatively new experience to me, but over the last four years, I have begun to see the threat it really is. My best friend Mark was diagnosed with brain cancer when he was only 12 years old. Shortly after his diagnosis, he went to the hospital to have surgery done to remove the tumor on his brain. Mark was extremely lucky that the tumor was caught sooner rather than later. Even though the surgery was successful, Mark had a few side effects to his tumor. Mark’s left arm has grown weaker along with his left leg. He has developed a limp and needs to work with a physical therapist frequently. He has been working on building up the strength to use his left arm just the same as his right arm.
When I first met Mark, I was unaware of his condition and formulated my own ideas on what his disability really was. Me and Mark were buddies but didn’t talk as frequently as we do now. A year went by from freshman year, and I became one of Mark’s best friends. We talked about everything; he told me what his disability was and what his recovery process has been like. I learned so much about how badly cancer affected him and his family.
Mark has annual check-ups with the surgeons to check on his recovery process and they check him to see if any cancer is growing back. There are many things Mark can’t do because of the damage caused by the brain tumor, and it makes him sad sometimes when he sees the enjoyment other people have. Mark was able to play guitar before his surgery, but now he can’t until his hand is built up to its full potential. For the three years of our friendship, I discovered what fun we can have without him feeling bad about his disability. Many people don’t play board games anymore because they seem boring or frustrating, but we have the greatest time of our lives playing them. Our favorite game to play is Quelf. It’s one of the most outrageous board games out there. We play this game and have enormous amounts of fun acting out silly actions the cards ask us to do. Besides board games, we sit and listen to music. We both love and compare singers and musicians and debate on who is the best and who isn’t. We make the most fun out of the simplest things we have. Sometimes we stay up all night making milkshakes and cooking pancakes when we are hungry.
Every year when Mark is checked for cancer, he gets nervous and afraid of what the outcome will be. The last seven years that he has gone, he has been cancer free. Mark puts a lot of stress and pressure on himself about many things in his life. I have been there to make him feel comfortable in public, in school and anywhere else we go. I try to ease his mind as much as I can because he can’t handle all the stress built up inside of him; it’s hard for him to talk about his feelings sometimes. Recently he was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease, which has been taking a tremendous toll on him. His diet changed to a very limited selection of food that he can eat without making himself sick and running to the bathroom every couple of minutes. Recently we went to Applebee’s, and Mark ordered the dragon fire steak without realizing how spicy it was. We stopped him before the waitress left and told him how bad it was for his stomach. He had to change his meal to salmon with steamed broccoli. When dessert time came around, a couple of our friends got dessert but Mark couldn’t have any. I felt bad and sacrificed my dessert and didn’t order any with him so that he didn’t feel left out or alone.
I have never left his side and never will. We are best friends till the end, and I know what my best friend needs and how to make him happy. Whether we play Quelf until we can’t laugh any more or we rock out so hard that our necks hurt, we have the most fun making the most of what we have. Mark may be limited by his physical abilities on some activities we would like to do together, but our friendship will never be limited. I will always be with Mark, building our friendship closer and closer every day. Along our journey to adulthood, we will discover new activities that will give us the fun and excitement that we love to encounter.