Common App Case

It was autumn, and as the hazel and auburn leaves descended from the trees, so left the vivacity from my father's being. My father was my supporter, protector, and confidant. But the person that I felt most protected by was stricken suddenly frail and breakable by the malevolent influence that is cancer. His increasing weakness was evident in the thinning of his hair and body, in the way he struggled to lift me up into his hospital bed, and in his lack of confidence when speaking about our future. Many of our evening meals were then spent in his hospital room, accompanied by the faint crunching sound of my father chewing on ice, as he tried to maintain the normalcy of our family meals. When in my company, he attempted to conduct himself as though he was still healthy, but his façade was not very convincing, even to a child. He was always doing all he could to protect his little girl.

The subsequent months were satiated with excessive hospital visits and phone calls from distant family members, who had never previously shown any interest in my little family's goings-on. The visitors tried to inquire about my feelings and attempted to offer me comfort and advice. They brought me gifts and cards, teddy bears and flowers, but no item could provide me with the reassurance I needed. I knew what was happening and I knew that I had no power to stop it. I felt helpless. I was concerned about my mother's nightly sobbing, about the strange tone my father would speak to me in, but above all about what would happen to my mother and me when this whole ordeal was over.

The people that surrounded me appeared so grief-stricken and wavering, that I took it upon myself to be their anchor, just as my father had been for me. When my mother cried in anguish, I reminded her of better times and held her in the most powerful of embraces. When my relatives tried to share their experiences with loss, but instead broke out into tears, I hugged them and gave them thanks for their help. When my father told me that he loved me, with tears welling in his eyes, I responded with "I love you too! see you tomorrow, daddy" and gave him a kiss. I was not aware that that was the last time I would ever see him, but in that moment I saw a glimmer of the long-absent, sincere strength that was a part of him, and will always be a part of me.

When winter arrived, every last leaf had deserted its tree. I tightly held my mother's hand while at

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