MY PARENTS WALKED AWAY FROM ME AT THE HOSPITAL WHEN I WAS 13 — MY MOTHER WENT PALE WHEN THE DEAN CALLED MY NAME

had just finished explaining my diagnosis to my parents. Acute lymphoblastic leukemia. He explained that it was the most common form of childhood cancer, but also one of the most treatable. With aggressive chemotherapy, my survival odds were approximately 85 to 90 percent. Good odds, he kept saying. Very good odds.

My mother, Linda, sat by the window continue reading …