8 years old and sentenced to death

Magazines are read for entertainment. I read quite a lot of magazines when I want to relax and not think about anything. Yet sometimes you read articles that touch you, make you think about your own life and the way you live it. Today I read one of those articles. It was about cancer. A sad subject. The most horrible disease in this world. Especially when the patients are children.

The youngest child was 8. She said she had cancer ever since she was 4, so half of her life. The oldest was 13. I had a heavy heart reading this article, because it is not something that should happen to young children. They should live a carefree life in which their only worry is who to play with after school or what's for dinner that night.

Included in the article were large pictures of the children. I didn't see sad and frail human beings. I saw children with courage and bravery in their eyes. Who didn't see themselves the way the world saw them; lost causes.
It was so inspiring to read a little girl's only concern not being her health, but the fact that her teddy bear felt uncomfortable in the hospital. A true fighter. And this boy, whose mother just heard that he is incurable. "You are going to die. Didn't you hear what I said?" His mother cried. He said: "I heard you. Would you please stop pushing it?" He then said he was just having fun in life until it stops.
Another girl's dad told her she might die, but she said she's okay with that because it would mean she would be reunited with her beloved pet in heaven. It is all so confronting. Here I am worried and stressing about the little things in life while there are children out there fighting for their lives when they shouldn't have to.

I think a lot of adults could learn from these children. Whenever life doesn't treat us well, we tend to get depressed and give up. These children don't give up. Most importantly, they are not afraid of death. They see it as a new adventure.

I remember vividly when a classmate I used to hang out with in high school. One day he was very pale and extremely tired. Not long after he visited the doctor, he was diagnosed with leukemia. He never gave up. He got better. He was allowed to go home. Then he got the flu, but his immune system wasn't strong enough to fight it. He got into a coma and died on Christmas eve.
Hundreds of people gathered for his funeral. As I was standing there in the back of the church, I remember thinking that all these people shouldn't have been there that day. He shouldn't have been in that coffin. He was far too young to go. He should've just come to school the next day and tease me like he always did. Get on my nerves, tell fantastical stories, dress up like a pirate on Pirate's day. But he was gone. It was unfair.

Cancer. It's something you don't even want to happen to your worst enemy. It tears families apart. It shatters hopes and dreams. I get insanely angry when I see someone use cancer as a swear word. It's not. It's serious. But instead of fearing it, we should continue to fight it. Not only for the sake of these children, but for the sake of everybody who suffers from it. We should take these kids as an example, be brave and eliminate this terrible disease.