Walk down the corridors of an oncology wing anywhere in the country and you’ll learn just how “fair” life is. A chorus of “Why her?” And “How long do they have left” echo off the walls and fall onto the dead-end ears of doctors who have seen it all. Everyone thinks it won’t happen to them until it does.
Finding that her headache persisted after taking three massive sips of tepid water from a never-been-washed mason jar that lives permanently on her bedside table, Ayanna Kiesel knew her fate was sealed. She would go from being known as an enthusiastic young sales associate at an up-and-coming cosmetics brand to a brave yet doomed cancer patient. How could life be so cruel?
Although doctors tend to look down on self-diagnosis, when the writing on the wall is this clear most professionals will agree you need not spend your life savings on fancy medical assessments and high-tech body scans to confirm the obvious. In such dire circumstances, it’s best to move from denial to acceptance and begin researching burial plots as soon as possible, so as not to burden her grief-stuck family with funereal tasks.
What started as just a dull innocuous throbbing on the right side of her skull turned into a full-blown headache bordering on migraine territory. Who knew cancer cells could metastasize so severely in just a matter of minutes? What kind of cruel god would use terminal brain cancer as his Trojan horse to deliver a message about the sanctity of life?
It’s terrifying to think that a woman like Kiesel who only smoked on the weekends and took expired vitamins every day could fall victim to such a relentless fate. It’s as if the Pedialyte she added to her tequila soda last night did nothing to improve her body’s immune response. Unfortunately, it’s true what they say about God giving his toughest battles to his strongest soldiers.
Friends and family are welcome to go by her apartment later today and say their final goodbyes if the $11 coconut water, bath bomb, and shiatsu neck massager fail to relieve her condition.