“All the way back in 2008-2009, a little girl with firey red hair moved in to the house next to me. At the time we were both about 8 years old. I went to her house and introduced myself to her and we became friends. In 2011 I left my private school I was going to at the time and started going to the same school she went to (public school.) I remember we sat by eachother on the bus, we became bestfriends. In December of 2012 I got a call from her saying that she was diagnosed with stage 4 rhabdomyosarcoma cancer. It was very rate in children her age which scared me a lot because I was only 13 years old! Anyways, she fought that cancer battle long and hard and we remained bestfriends through it all. We went to the smoky mountains together, we went to our first homecoming together, we did everything together. She was, And still is my other half. That girl was stronger than anyone you would ever meet. She may have been skinny, but man was she a fighter. Unfortunately on January 4, 2015 she gained her angel wings and went to heaven. That was probably the hardest thing I’ve ever had to deal with in my life. After she passed I started getting depressed. I went to a grief counselor bit I didn’t share a whole lot with her, don’t get me wrong I trusted her and knew I could tell her anything but it was just too hard to talk about. I’m not gonna get too deep here, but let’s just say I struggled with eating and just different things and thoughts that were not healthy for me. Even though it’s only been two months it feels like it’s been an eternity since she passed away. I miss her everyday and sometimes I still feel sad but I know the path I was about to go down was not a good one and I thank god every day that he led me away from that path.”
Posted by Alicia.
Alicia wrote this promise card in memory of her friend. Cancer is the leading cause of death by disease past infancy among children in the United States. Only 4% of federal government cancer research funding goes to children. We hope Alicia continues her fight for this cause.
Rest in peace, Pheonix.
