Sypien

Colleen Sypien p.1 __**The Race of my Life**__ “Kick the ball over here Mark!” I screamed with a giddy delight. My best friend Mark and I were 7, and playing soccer on the school field.

“Okay, here it comes!” he replied, equally happy. He kicked the soccer ball with all of his might, and it flew into the goal.

“Woo-hoo!” he exclaimed, jumping up and down with his fists in he air.

“Oh man,” I said, “I’ll beat you next time. Good job!”

The next day, my mom received a phone call from Mark’s mom. I listened at the door, only hearing my mom’s side of the conversation. “Hi, Jeannie, how are you? ... You are? Why’s that? …” A long pause followed, then suddenly my mom exclaimed, “Oh no! I am so sorry. Do you want me to do anything? … How bad is it? … Mmhmm … ok…yes, I’ll tell her… Have a good night.” She hung up the phone, and it was then that I learned what leukemia is. It was inside of Mark, and slowly killing him. That meant no more soccer. Four months later, Mark died, and I went to his funeral. It didn’t seem real, and it didn’t seem like he was really gone. I was lonely without my best friend, and I couldn’t play soccer without him. It was then that I took up running. ( i really like this paragraph, it is very well written.)

“One more mile,” I panted to myself. “Just one more mile.” I was number 394 in my third 10k race. So far, I was in second, and the third and fourth place runners were close behind me. My lungs were on fire; I had not run for four months, and I was pretty badly out of shape.

“Do it for Mark.” I grunted under my breath. The finish line was just a little farther, and I was not about to give up, so I started sprinting, getting rid of my normal, rhythmic run. I came up right beside the girl in first. She looked over at me, and she too started sprinting. Faster and faster we ran; the finish line was only a few more strides away. As I was pulling ahead, my line of vision fell from the finish line to the gravel I was lying under.( i'm not sure if this sentence makes sense) //No//. I thought to myself. I have to keep going! Get up, get up! My mind screamed at my feet. But I couldn’t move. I propped up onto my arms, and when I went to bring my legs up from under me, they wouldn’t move. People from the sidelines streamed over to where I lay, not caring that the girl I had been racing won. Streams of people came over to see why I was not getting up. The on call physicians came over carrying a stretcher and a first aid kit. I could feel them lift me on to the stretcher, and I saw them rearranging my legs into a better position, but I could not feel them doing it. They loaded me into an ambulance that was waiting nearby, and took me to the hospital. When we got there, I remember receiving anesthesia because they were doing emergency surgery to set my ankle, which, apparently, had been broken.

“It cannot be fixed.”

“Paralyzed.”

“Nothing more we can do.”

I heard the doctors talking before I remembered I was in the hospital. I opened my eyes to find my mom, dad, and brother, Kip. No one noticed my slightly opened eyes.

“Are you sure there is nothing you can do doctor?” my mom asked.

“Yes. We did what we could for her ankle, but nothing can be done about her being paralyzed.” Paralyzed? How could I be paralyzed? I exclaimed to myself.

“ How did she become paralyzed?” my mom questioned.

“We are not entirely sure,” the doctor replied hesitantly.

“Not sure? Not sure!” my mother exclaimed. Uh-oh doc, wrong move!

“Calm down Eileen,” my dad jumped in, “ they are doing the best they can.” Good old dad. He is the peacemaker in our family. Whenever my mom and I get into a fight, he’s right there fixing the problem. At least, when he’s not at work. My dad is a truck driver at night, and one of the employees of McDonald’s who works the noon- 6pm shift. He usually sleeps in the morning. He has to do both jobs because my mom is a pre-school teacher’s aide, and does not make very much money, so without my dad’s second job, we would not have enough to pay all the bills. My brother Kip and I had to start working this summer at the local grocery store so that we could have enough money saved up for when we go to college in three years. Kip and I are twins, but I am thirty minutes older. I open my eyes all the way now, and the doctor sees me.

“Oh good, you’re awake. How do you feel?” He inquired of me.

“ Fine. What happened?” I asked innocently. They had no idea I had already heard, so I let them continue thinking that way.

“Well, we did what we could for your ankle, but-”

“”You’ll never be able to walk or run again!” My irritating brother exclaimed. He can be so annoying! The doctor left the room then, leaving me with my family.

“I know,” I told them, after he had left, “ I heard before.” My mom opened her mouth, most likely to console me, but closed it again.

“When can I go home?” I asked, trying to break the uncomfortable silence.

“Tomorrow night.” my dad replied.

“Why are you not at work dad? I mean, the race was at three, so it’s got to be at least six!”

“ It’s ten.” my brother corrected me. We all ignored him.

“Your dad is taking off work for the next few days to help at home.” My mom told me.

“When can I go home?” I asked, peering at everyone in the room. Before anyone could answer, the doctor came in. We all turned to look at him.

“Ok, we have a wheelchair set up for you, so whenever you are ready to leave, I’ll call in a nurse to help lift you from the bed.” He said.

“I can leave today?” I asked in pure amazement.

“Yes. There is nothing more we can do for you. Your ankle has been set, and we have a wheel chair for you to keep.” I told him that I was ready to leave, and he left to get some medication and a nurse to help me. They lifted me from the bed into the wheelchair, and gave me the bag with a bottle of pills for me to take strictly at nightfall. We all said thank you on our way out of the hospital, and I was wheeled toward my life without legs, never to run again.