A Clinical Trial Gave Me Two Bonus Years With My Dad. Everyone Should Have That Chance

Parenting/ Health

Lifestyle / Parenting/ Health 382 Views 0 comments

Audrey and her father at her high school graduation. Photocourtesy of Audrey Davis. Eighteen years ago, when I was a senior at Carleton College in Minnesota, I received a phone call from my dad. He said three words that would forever change the trajectory of my life: “I have cancer.” I soon learned that his diagnosis of Stage IV colorectal cancer also held a grim prognosis for his particular case and that he did not expect to attend my graduation that spring due to the aggressive chemotherapy and radiation treatments that would be needed. Instead, my dad’s brother and best friend, my uncle Wilfrid, cheered me on as I walked the stage to collect my diploma that May.  Dad, Wilfrid, and their brother, Jacques, emigrated from Haiti to the U.S. as teenagers without their parents, who died on the island before any of them became adults. They trusted each other with their lives and livelihoods as they traveled from everything that they knew to a completely foreign country and language. Wilfrid is now a retired internal medicine doctor and remains my biggest cheerleader. He and my parents supported me in my decision to pivot away from plans to move to...

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