Lex’s sister

Growing up, my sister and I were never very close—there was a big age gap between us. She was fourteen years older, already working while I was still in school.I remember when she fainted for the first time. I was worried, but I couldn’t give it much thought… I was about to enter the most stressful two years of my life in Junior College. 

For the first two months, my parents didn’t tell me. They wanted me to focus on my studies, to protect me from the weight of what was happening. I remember sitting in my room, studying for my finals. My dad came in, tears in his eyes. That’s when he broke the news, my sister had M3 Leukemia. 

When I found out, I was in shock. It didn’t feel real. I remember feeling angry, why didn’t they tell me before? But what they were about to say next was even worse, the only reason they told me was because they needed to prepare me to be her bone marrow transplant donor. 

My body weight was too light to be eligible for the transplant, so for the next few weeks, I ate like a hippo. It felt impossible, but I didn’t have a choice. Every day I forced food down, crying from the pain in my stomach and the emotions I didn’t know how to handle. My dad sat with me through it, encouraging me, feeding me bite after bite. I knew I had to do it for my family, they had gone through so much. My mom had to fight cancer a few years earlier, and now I felt like it was my turn to step up.

During those months, I would visit my sister in the hospital. But when I looked into her eyes, I could see that she was a different person. She barely looked at me, barely spoke, like she was too tired to move. Most of the time I was there, she would be asleep. And even when I stood by her side, I felt invisible, like a ghost just watching her fade in and out of the world around her.

After months of treatment, slowly, things started to turn around. Her strength began to return, little by little. The day she finally smiled at me again, it felt like I was seeing the sister I knew for the first time in what felt like forever. Thankfully, she got better in the end. I was reminded yet again of how fragile life really is, and how much love can carry you through the worst of times.