“Write hard and clear about what hurts.” ~ Ernest Hemingway
“The chemo has stopped working.
We’re in the under 10% survival rate now.”
She is 7.
There are experimental treatments. New treatments get developed every few months. She just needs to stay alive and well enough for six months, then maybe there will be something new.
She’s not even mine and I can barely breathe.
Nothing I write can make this better and I can’t write about anything else. Fucking Hemingway. I always did hate him.
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Oh wow! This is so beautifully written, from the bookends of the quote, the 3-word sentence, the 10% sentence, the way you write it hard and clear shows how much it hurts. Fucking Hemingway all the way!
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Thank you.
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There are no other words for something as heartbreaking as this…I am so sorry.
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My heart hurts for you. Fuck cancer. It’s the worst.
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This sucks. (Not the writing.)
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Lisa, I keep crying. There is nothing we can do. Such a helpless feeling. And every time she is doing well, we allow ourselves to hope, and then… here we are.
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This is so sad. I’m so sorry. No words 😦
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I’m so so sorry.
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Oh shit.
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Heartbreaking reality. Hemingway was a SOB. 😢
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Hard? Check. Clear? Check. Terse sentences that even that effin’ author might appreciate? Check. Now we need the latest treatment for that seven-year-old.
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Oh, Amanda, I’m so, so sorry. She clearly is yours in the ways that matter most–those of the heart. Holding you all in my heart.
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Your poet friend. Sending you all love and strength. ❤️
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Amanda,
Bring the pain to Tuesday night if it helps. Thank you for this. Beautifully written. So shitty. This journey is awful when we travel it with anyone we love. But with a child? Yeah, fuck Hemingway and cancer and all of it.
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What a long and terrible road. Glad you were there to help as much as covid-19 allowed.
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Your heart can hold. Steady on.
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This is so so sad. Cancer in kids is the worst kind of low, so much suffering. And really you can’t say anything.
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The hurt is palpable and I feel it with you. I am so sorry for you and your friends. This piece pierces.
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Thank you
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What beauty comes from tragedy and is always insufficient. This is beautiful and awful and necessarily efficient but lasting in impact. Incredible writing and I am so so sad.
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Oh no. I’m reading back in time, and realizing all that I missed this week. So sorry this is happening. Writing, even when it’s real and raw like this, doesn’t fix the hurt. Sometimes it makes it even more real. Praying for the 10 percent.
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Oh Peter, I knew you were reading backward & I knew you would end up here. I wanted to warn you, but there was no way to do it. It was a long week. I’ve been trying to keep up with commenting, but… I’ll have to catch up later.
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