Laura

© March 2016. A recreation of a short story originally written by me for a college course in 1981. The paper was lost over the years and is written here from memory.

The first time I met Laura she was wearing blue jeans, a red & white checkered Western shirt, Cowboy boots and a smile that lighted the room. She was tall and slender with naturally blonde hair that fell in ringlet curls around her face. Her bright blue eyes smiled as she said hello. You knew she was a genuinely sweet person the moment you met her. There wasn’t a pretentious bone in her body – what you saw is what she was – friendly to all she met, warm, loving, and full of life.

Laura was the youngest in her family – the baby. However, she was not the spoiled child, as often is the case with youngest or only children. She like to ride horses and wanted a red Corvette. She was saving to buy one some day. She also loved water skiing, spending time on the water at her parent’s lake home, and time spent with family and friends. And she enjoyed her job as a Dental Assistant. Having known her and spent time with her as a friend, I cannot help but think that the patients whom she cared for had their best experience ever at a dentist’s office.

What was not obvious from the bright smile, the zest for life and the care Laura showed her patients was that she had cancer – a brain tumor. She was 18 when she first began experiencing the mind-numbing headaches and nausea that so often accompanies this terrible disease. Doctors originally told Laura and her parents that the tumor was inoperable. However, her parents did not take no for an answer and took their child and their hopes to other doctors. They finally located a neurosurgeon willing to operate on Laura.

The first surgery and subsequent chemo therapy were grueling. Laura’s beautiful blonde curls were shaved before the surgery to allow doctors to remove the malignant mass growing in her brain. After her surgery, when her incision was sufficiently healed, doctors began pumping the poison known as chemo therapy through her thin, frail body. What little of her blonde hair had returned now fell out. Another side effect of the chemo was bloating and water retention that caused Laura’s naturally thin physique to become something resembling a water-filled balloon. For the next several months Laura endured the chemo and its side effects – the loss of her hair, the change in her looks, and the inability to visit friends due to the chemo’s destruction of her immune system. She did all this with thanks, a smile on her face and a positive outlook. Nearly a year after her surgery, Laura was declared cancer free. And once off the chemo, her thin physique returned and her blonde curls began to grow.

Laura returned to her job and her life with her family & friends. She lived her life as any normal person would. She didn’t ask any favors, nor did she expect any. Laura continued to save for her red Corvette and planned her future. She went water skiing, motorcycle riding with her boyfriend, and got on with her life. Her hair continued to grow, her jeans fit again, her big smile was always there, and her zest for life never failed. For the next year, life was good.

Then, almost without warning, the mind-numbing headaches and nausea returned. Doctors confirmed the dreaded news; the tumor had returned. The news was devastating. After the initial tears, anger, and fear subsided, Laura faced the next surgery and chemo with the same determination that she had faced the first. Within a year, Laura had recovered from the surgery, finished chemo and was back at work, celebrating yet another victory.

That victory was short lived however. Within six months the tumor returned. This time for the last time. All the doctors could do was make her comfortable. Toward that end, then removed a section of her skull and installed a shunt to relieve pressure on her brain. The once vibrant and active 21-year-old was now confined to a hospital bed in her parent’s home. Her health failing, unable to even get out of bed, Laura never stopped smiling. Nor did she forget to thank her visitors for coming.

With his youngest child’s life dwindling to an end, Laura’s Father brought home a red Corvette like the one his daughter had wanted and was saving her money to purchase. He carried her to the car and they took a short ride. It was her first and last ride in a red Corvette. Laura passed away a little more than a week later. Her funeral was attended by hundreds from the small town in which she grew up and lived her life. She was laid to rest next to where her parents would eventually be buried.

Though her life was over, Laura lived on in the family and friends who knew her. The memory of her spirit and zest for life reminds us not to give up – no matter what obstacles we face.