As kids we all had a dream that has accompanied us over the years, transforming and growing with us. Perhaps we have already fulfilled that dream and we are pursuing new ones, because we know that life changes and that it's about imagining, trying and enjoying.
I've always liked writing. I started my first diary at age 6, at 8 I finished my first story, at 11 I wrote the script of a play and printed my texts in colorful letters, at 15 I kept inventing stories and then, I don't remember at what age, I stopped writing.
One of my dreams is to publish a book, but this dream was about to be just that, because before I turned 24 years old I didn't do anything to achieve it. By destiny or chance, a day that started like any other, changed the course of my life and gave me a story to tell.
In March of 2017, when I was 24 years old, I met Frantz, an almost inoffensive and coolish guy who had been sending me signals to find him for several years. At first I did not suspect anything, but he was unable to hide his intentions and soon I knew he wanted to kill me.
Frantz, my ex-cancer, was hidden in my pancreas, branched to the spleen and multiplying its metastases on the right side of my liver. Frantz threatened to take everything away from me, he put my dreams in danger and I almost ran out of time. He wanted to stop me from marrying, having healthy children and publishing a book. He made me part of the statistics and gave me the label of a rare case, because in Mexico I am the first young woman diagnosed with a metastatic Frantz Tumor and I'm number 23 in the world.
After three huge surgeries, several complications and a lot of pain, I got rid of Frantz and his metastases, and although I lost three quarters of the pancreas, 50% of the liver, the spleen, the gallbladder and 7 kilos, I became part of the 5% of pancreatic cancer survivors.
However, in less than a year and only eight months after the liver surgery in which I almost died twice, I had to fight again. Frantz had bombed me with three new tumors, two in the peritoneum and one in the vena cava, and once again represented a threat to my life.
In March of 2018 I had surgery for the fourth time and was waiting for my fifth operation when suddenly, through a new PET scan, I discovered that Frantz had disappeared. How? I do not know, but the last tumor that was in the vena cava (below the heart) ceased to exist. Just like that, without further explanations than a little luck, God, the universe or some higher energy, gave me back what I most yearned: my health. Why? I do not know either, but I will enjoy every second of the greatest gift I have: life.
A life or death situation forces you to see things from another perspective, to find meaning in your life, to pursue your dreams and exploit your talents, because if it's not now... when?
On the way back to total healing I learned that we need the help of others to succeed, that opportunities can come disguised as adversities and that it is up to us to take advantage of them. That it does not matter the final result, we win by the simple fact of trying and that we should not demand ourselves anything else but to do it the best we can.
My career as a writer is just beginning, but I am determined to fulfill my dreams and never leave them in the hands of fate again.
Goodbye Frantz, goodbye. I will continue living, writing, enjoying and loving.
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Thanks to Vida Anahuac magazine for inviting me to write for the Call to Action section. It is an honor for me that you consider my story inspiring and I hope it inspires students to never forget their dreams.
Majo >> @goodbyefrantz
