Sarah My Cousin

Ever since I was little, I have been extremely close to my cousins Sarah, Jessie, and Lora, and my sister, Maggie. We are all close in age and loved visiting each other. In fact, we are all like sisters! We would make up our own versions of games like "hide and go seek" (remember monster?). I thought we would be doing things like this our whole lives. The only thing that worried me was the fact that Sarah had neuroblastoma. I was not sure exactly what it was, but now I know that it is a rare type of cancer. She was in and out of the hospital for a big part of her life. On August 1st, 2001, Sarah passed away. I was so sad and cried many times. I still do sometimes. I always reassure myself, though, that she is with God and is probably swimming with everybody up there, since she never got to do that. I also remember all the happy memories we had.

If Sarah had not lost her hair to chemo, you would never know that she was even sick at all. She acted like having this cancer was nothing. I know now she must have been in much pain, but she did not show it. When we went to visit her in the hospital, though, I could never think of anything to say at first. I remember being frightened, because she looked so small on that bed, with big, scary machines surrounding her. Even in the hospital, Sarah looked sick, but did not act sick. She always had a sense of humor. It was spread to everyone around her. One time, when my dad took all of us out to eat, she threw up all over his jacket. She then said, "Uncle John, don't ever wash that jacket, so whenever you smell it, you'll think of me.). Whenever I think of Sarah, I think of that line. It always makes me laugh when I feel sad about her not being with us anymore.

Sarah is my inspiration to create a foundation for kids with nueroblastoma. I want to raise money to find a cure for it. I also want to help kids go thru their life with a smile. I want them to have a reason to do that, like Sarah did. Even though I miss her, I remember how she lived her life. I learned a lot from her.