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Past Contest Winners
"The Creative Writing Contest" ::::::::::::::::
"Andrea's Story" Hi. My name is Andrea. I'm living with a cancer called Hodgkin's Disease. It's a cancer that affects my lymp nodes. my ordeal started when I was in a long term psychiatric hospital, in Harrisburg, PA, for major depression. In the beginning I started getting rashes on my legs and arms. I had terrible hip pains that kept me up at night. I was also weak and dizzy and I had terrible night sweats. At first I didn't think anything of it. I had just been placed on a medicine called welbutrin for depression, so I thought that maybe I was having a bad reaction to it. So even though it was helping my depression, I begged my psychiatrist to take me off of it, so he finally did, but my symptoms still didn't go away. If anything they were worse. Alot of staff actually thought I was faking, because in psychiatric hospitals that's what they usually think each time patients claim they're sick. However, a few staff did believe me and had me see a different doctor. 
The doctor became very concerned when he felt my neck and underarms. there were quite a few hard lumps. so he sent me to Hershey Medical Center to undergo some tests, some of which were very painful. When the news came I was very shocked and quite upset. I was told i'd need to start chemo right away. The side effects were terrible. I threw up quite often, had terrible mouth sores, diarrhea, ect. I was really, really scared all the time. I spent the next few weeks feeling sorry for myself. I also blamed myself for my illness. I thought of the past few years, all those times i'd been angry, and wanted to die. I wondered if it was too late for a second chance. For the past few years I fanticized about dying. But after my diagnosis I wanted to live more than ever. So for the first time ever I decided that instead of trying to die, I would try to live instead. I started doing things for myself, ignoring the fear and the pain. I told my parents I loved them for the first time ever. I apologized and started making amends to the people I hurt. For most of the time in the Psychiatric hospital I had tried my best to isolate myself from the other patients. the other patients had felt like intruders, but as I started changing, I started to build some friendships. Suddenly I wanted to live my life to the fullest. I stopped taking things for granted. I started to journal and write poetry in order to cope with it all. I started becoming very interested in a tv show called Little House on the Prairie. I saw how the Ingalls family were strong and brave and how they went out of their way to help others and I wanted to be that way too. I think it's strange that sometimes it takes an illness or a tragedy to show you how great life really is. Cancer has forced me to take a hard look at myself and to face my problems head on.
That's all for now. I hope you learned something from it. Remember to never give up hope. Never deprive anyone of hope... it may be all they have. I should know. For even a little positive in a negative person's life can make a big difference. ::::::::::::::::
"Samantha's Story" When i first got sick i was only 2 1/2 years old and did not know or understand what was going on. i remember my mommy and daddy kept saying that they hoped i would be ok...or they hoped i would get older ..and things like that....i kept asking them why the had to hope and did not just know i was going to get better....then a friend from the hospital died. i was only 3 then. thats when i was told that sometimes cancer meant you went to heaven and not home with your folks. i hoped i would get better. and the rest of my friends also. from the day i started hoping to feel better its been working. so now i hope and pray each night before bed and i know that as long as i do, i will be ok...and my friends also. and i also hope that no other kids have to be in pain or take the yucky medicine like i do..... 
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I would never have chosen to get cancer, but I feel that the cancer has set
me free from my depression. Never again will I ever take life for granted.
noone is guarenteed tommorrow. So we need to live each day like it were our
last. This knowledge should inspire everyone to change the way we treat
others and ourselves. a moment given now may prevent a lifetime of regret. I
have since been discharged from the psychiatric hospital and now live at
home. I attend a regular school and I help others whenever I can. I started
really opening up to the people I care about. I remember what my
psychiatrist told me right before I was discharged. She took the golden rule
"treat others as you would want to be treated" and reversed it by saying
"treat yourself as you would want others to treat you". A that means being
good to myself and not hurting myself in anyway. I live by that everyday
now. I treat myself well, the way I now treat others.