Orig

Browse our previous Cancer Unwrapped writing contest winners

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One Hundred Thousand Wasted Hours

October 20, 2015 | Parent with Cancer
Time is an illusion. It is intangible, a mere figment of consciousness; you can’t sculpt it like a piece of clay. ...

Hope and Faith

October 20, 2015 | Loss of a Parent(s)
Dr. Ginsburg, “mama”, and “baba” all stared at me while I tried building up the courage to utter the sentence that ...

This Is My Story

October 20, 2014 | Parent with Cancer
Every day I walk past a sign hanging in the hallway next to the cafeteria. It’s been there, tacked up between two ...

Sunshine

October 20, 2014 | Loss of a Loved One
I still can’t believe it. Laying in the dark of my self-induced isolation, barricaded behind an iron wall of ...

My Angel in the Outfield

October 20, 2014 | Loss of a Parent(s)
What more could a kid ask for? It was a warm summer evening and I was practicing baseball with my 9 year old ...

Mom, I See Two of You

October 20, 2014 | Living with Cancer
Life was good. I was your average 8 year old boy looking forward to summer so I could ride my bike and hang out ...

I Believe in Miracles

October 20, 2014 | Loved One with Cancer
When you find out that your cousin has cancer it feels scary and devastating and sad. Then when you find out your ...

Growing Up Normal

October 20, 2014 | Loss of a Parent(s)
I grew up in a normal household. Normal is an ambiguous word, encompassing a wide range of possibilities and ...

Grandpa's Hands

October 20, 2014 | Loss of a Loved One
His hands. That’s what I’ll always remember about him. They were big – big enough to completely enclose mine, ...

Flashback

October 20, 2014 | Loss of a Parent(s)
Silence filled the crowd. Anticipation drenched the air. It was a tied game, the bases were loaded, and every fan ...

Brianna

October 20, 2014 | Loss of a Loved One
Brianna is 18-years old. I am 18-years old. Brianna had no hair when I met her. I had hair down to my shoulders ...

Black Lungs & the Bic-Lighter Phoenix

October 20, 2014 | Loss of a Parent(s)
These veins run wild with witching hour alcohol and cigarette ashes. But they aren’t mine. I am not the ...

“Watching my Mom go Away”

October 20, 2013 | Loss of a Parent(s)
My name is Bianca Ontiveros the only girl out of four children that my lovely mother had. As tears run down my ...

The Wig

October 20, 2013 | Loved One with Cancer
I was nine years old when my Grammie came to live with us! She gave up her teaching career, her house, and her ...

The Perfect Story

October 20, 2013 | Sibling with Cancer
When I was young, my older sister would babysit me. She had a babysitting kit, a carefully decorated box that she ...