Dear Steve,

         Be strong. Not just for yourself, but for mom and dad. This will be harder on them than it will be on you. Put on a stern face and push back the invading negative thoughts. This will all be easier than it seems right now. Believe it or not, you will look back on this day as a divine intervention. You will come to realize that this day was the beginning of a life-changing experience, one that you will come to be thankful for.

          Your attitude from this point on will have a great impact on your family and friends. As such, it is imperative that you project positivity. Being positive will become increasingly difficult, but positivity will be your greatest asset for the foreseeable future.

          You are about to be told to put your life on hold for three and a half years; this will be jarring. Your immediate plans will be very different than they were just a few short hours ago. The senior pool party you were planning on attending this afternoon will be replaced with a room in the intensive care unit. The beach chair you were to be lounging in will be swapped out for a hospital bed. Beers with your friends will become IV bags with nurses. You do not know it yet, but you have already attended your last day of school and taken your last trip down the hallways of your beloved James Caldwell High School.

           Your future will look bleak. You will not be leaving for college in two months like you had intended. However, your friends will all go away to school. You will hear about their exciting new experiences; dorms, football games, parties. Being happy for them will be difficult. When they complain about their roommates and dining hall food, you will be tempted to lash out. You will want to tell them they have nothing to complain about in comparison to your situation. Do not do so. There is no way you can possibly predict where you will end up three and a half years from now. Trust that this journey has a destination. You, too, will get your chance.

            You claim to have already learned a lot of life lessons to this point. Dedication, commitment, resilience. Recall what you said to your teammates and coaches not so long ago after a football season where you fell short of your ultimate goal. You stressed that you gained more from the journey than you could have ever gained from simply reaching the destination. You will find that to be never more true than in the next several months

          Soon enough, the physical improvements you have noticed in yourself resulting from your hard-work will begin to disappear. You will no longer recognize the body you have worked so hard to sculpt over the last few months. You will think the weight-lifting you have been doing before school and the wind sprints after school were all for nothing. Now that your college football dreams have been dashed, you’ll think you wasted your time.

          Eventually, you’ll realize you were participating in a very different kind of training. You’ll come to understand that while you were strengthening your body physically, you were also bolstering your mind, building a mental fortitude that will prepare you for a much more difficult obstacle. You will be required to be mentally tough time and again. When you are completely devoid of energy, decimated by heavy doses of radiation and chemotherapy, and you think you can’t stand another second, you will rely on your mind’s strength.

           You will make deeper connections with those close to you than you ever thought possible. Never forget these connections; they will last a lifetime.

           You will read stories about people in the same situation as you. They will talk about discovering an advanced appreciation for life. Naturally, you will attempt to make a similar discovery. You will walk to the beach to try to create the perfect serenity in which to capture this realization. You’ll watch the waves crash on the shore and look up at a distant half-moon, trying to force an understanding of what the past few months have truly meant to you.

           These attempts will be unsuccessful. Rather, this appreciation will overcome you in brief, fleeting, unexpected moments. It will come at 1:30 in the morning when you are falling asleep playing Xbox with Mike. You will be exhausted but you will beg him to play one more game because you will remember a time when there was a chance there might not be another game. You will realize, “How the hell did I get this lucky?”. So, you will laugh a little bit harder than you usually do when he inevitably recounts a story from his day. You’ll be laughing so much, even, that a tear streams down your face. Just for a second you’ll be so damn happy. He will laugh a little extra too, but not for the same reason you are. He will never be able to understand how much he truly means to you.

            As much as you learn about yourself, you will also learn about others. People will step up and make an impact on your life that you never would have expected. Friends, acquaintances, teachers, and coaches will be moved by your situation and be motivated to help. Others will fall short of your expectations. You will, also, meet people you never would have met before. Go places you never would have gone before. Embrace each new experience with an open mind and full heart.

            Inevitably, you will get frustrated. The question, “Why Me” will creep into your head, and you will feel sorry for yourself. While it is perfectly healthy to be upset over your circumstances, let these moments be brief. There are others who have been dealt a much less favorable hand  

            Eventually it will become clear that you have been granted a clean slate. Anything you felt you must do beforehand will feel less mandatory. With that being said, there will be pressure to take certain paths. Long after this is over, you will be nagged by a feeling that you should inspire people. You’ll with your courage.  Follow your heart. Erase expectations and embrace the true depth of the freedom you have been granted to make new choices.

            Questions will shortly race through your head. Some of these questions you will be able to answer immediately. Some you will answer later in life when you have a better understanding of the significance of this moment. For better or worse, this day will always be a part of you. However, it need not define you.

           -Good luck