on occasion there are matters in our existence which can be unexpected and may alternate the direction of our adventure in an instantaneous. a number of the ones matters are going to have so minor an effect that we infrequently notice the trade. however, there are also the ones things which could flip our international upside down inside seconds. For a younger female named Shayla Mitchell, she, lamentably, fell victim to one of these tragic life-changing event.
Shayla had now not been feeling well. at the start, she didn’t think a whole lot of it, because it became only a cough. but, quickly, the younger teen determined that she wasn’t capable of shake the cough. So the next day, she asked her dad, Tom, to take her to the health practitioner. Shayla concept that maybe she had a sinus infection.
the next day, her dad picked her up from school, and the 2 stopped to have a chunk to eat before her appointment. Little did they know that it would be the last meal they had been to revel in collectively before gaining knowledge of international-shattering information.
The doctor gave Shayla a routine examination, but whilst he got here lower back into the room with information of her test consequences, he had a atypical look on his face.
Shayla knew without delay that she became suffering from some thing an awful lot more excessive than a sinus infection.
because it grew to become out, kind of -thirds of her chest was being occupied by a large cancerous tumor. In fact, the mass become so large that it even brought about one in all her lungs to fall apart.
Later that night time, Shayla went out to dinner along with her dad, hoping to take her thoughts off of things for a while. however, the 2 now needed to dine in a room positioned in the pediatric oncology unit of Fairfax clinic. Tom shared his mind at the meal in a popular facebook group.
"We didn’t know it at the time, but we would wind up having our next 450 meals in that hospital, as well as hundreds and hundreds of additional meals over the next couple of years.”
whilst docs diagnosed Shayla with level four Hodgkin’s sickness, the teenager was terribly afraid.
before Tom sat and defined what turned into happening, he had stopped and purchased a bracelet for every of them at a nearby Indian art save. And that’s whilst he broke the information that no father have to ever have to mention to his daughter.
"I talked with her about everything and nothing. I talked with her about the wind and about feathers and I talked with her about cancer. We talked about the word ‘brave.’ We held each other very tight for a very long time. I’m pretty sure we both cried, and we promised each other that no matter what, we would be brave; together we would get through this.”
The heartbroken father positioned the bracelet on his little girl’s wrist. and then he informed her the following:
"That I would wear my bracelet until the day she was cancer free. That for every single night she had to stay in the hospital I would stay with her. That as long as she stayed brave, so would I.”
Tom and his daughter went on to spend loads of nights inside the clinic and on the chemotherapy hospital. Shayla had to endure many exams, which includes radiation and chemotherapy. She even suffered heart failure quickly after her remedies commenced.
"…her poor little heart quit working, so they had to install a pacemaker/defibrillator into her chest.”
Tom knew he needed to be sturdy for his little woman while he held her hair whilst she threw up, and then her hand while her hair fell out.
the 2 skilled the gambit of feelings during that point but nevertheless managed to live courageous for every other.
someday Shayla experienced something terrifying on her way to the auto, and her dad had no idea what to do.
"Help me Dad! IT’S SHOCKING ME! …IT’S SHOCKING ME!”
It grew to become out that the pacemaker installed to maintain her coronary heart beating changed into malfunctioning, inflicting the unit to surprise her repeatedly.
All Tom may want to do became clutch onto his daughter and hold her tight.
"But I refused to let go. I just held her as tightly as I could and just like that. it stopped shocking her as quickly as it had started, and we rushed to the hospital. It turns out the manufacturer of this device had to recall thousands of them like brakes on a Chevy.”
Shayla had to endure substitute surgery, failed bone marrow transplant, and many extra painful strategies. however, sooner or later, doctors told them that there was nothing greater they could do.
"How in the world was I supposed to have this conversation with my darling daughter? How in the world was I going to be brave enough to tell my daughter she was going to die? … I knew I had to be brave for HER! I did of course have that conversation with her, and as unbelievable as this may sound it turned out to be the most amazing, beautiful, magical, wonderful conversation I’ve ever had in my entire life, and one that I hope you NEVER EVER have to have…”
After Tom finished speaking, she leaned over and whispered, "Am I nevertheless courageous, Dad?” He checked out his daughter and realized how a great deal she were combating. but then it happened to Tom that Shayla wasn’t simply brave for herself; she turned into also preventing for her dad as nicely.
inside some days, Shayla Mitchell exceeded away. Tom knew that his daughter’s tough warfare became ultimately over, and now she may want to relaxation.
Tom’s heart become heavy with grief.
however the father knew that he had to do some thing to honor his daughter’s memory. So he started out the STILLBRAVE adolescence most cancers foundation to help different children like his daughter.
There’s absolute confidence that Shayla’s smiling down on her father.
