A Second Chance Tamanna Haque

Our daily lives are characterized by incidences, changes, perks, and disappointments, and each morning we wait for fate to unfurl. Sometimes an event occurs that changes our whole outlook on life and gives us a new perspective to live by. An event such as this eternally transformed my life and gave me a reason to forever strive for the best.

In autumn of 2003, I received a dreadful shock when the doctors said that my mother might have a brain tumor. Suddenly, her persistent headaches and haunting depression made sense. I found myself unable to digest the news, unable to fathom a day without her. It was because of this dreadful fear that my grades descended, and I gradually isolated myself from everything and everyone, forcing myself to forget the fact that some malignant tumor was slowly killing my mother. As the excruciating months passed by, my mother was given one medication after another, but her condition only worsened.

Finally, the doctors declared that an MRI was necessary to diagnose my mother's headaches, but the thought of this final solution threw my family into a tailspin. Fearing the worst but acknowledging the fact that we needed answers, we prayed fervently that the results would not prove fatal. A week after...