“Never frown, because you never know who might be falling in love with your smile.”

My name is Jessica Rose Jacobson. When I was 14 years old, I was diagnosed with Leukemia. I have had leukemia for 3 years now. I must say, its been a rough 3 years. Going through chemotherapy and other treatments is really hard. I am pretty sure I have been through it all. I have lost my hair two or three times now. I cry myself to sleep every night. Mostly because a year after I found out I had cancer, my sister got very depressed, and one night she was driving and fell asleep at the wheel. Then she ran into another car and…It’s really hard for me to talk about. My mother was never the same when my sister past. I’m the only family she has left, and she’s the only family I have left. My mom tries to visit me as much as possibly. She usually only gets to me a few times a month. So I try to meet new people that come into the hospital.

The treatments began to come more often and the cancer seemed to be getting worse. I was losing hope. I stopped eating for a while and lost a lot of weight. I just got weaker and weaker. My doctor told me that I needed to eat, but I refused. So they started to feed me through a tube. I gained my weight back, and I became much stronger. I didn’t want to be though. I really just felt like giving up. Then I found you. Tyson Leroy Jones. When you walked through those hospital doors, I swear my heart stopped. I couldn’t breathe for a moment. My doctor walked in and tried to tell me something, but I wasn’t paying attention. I couldn’t take my eyes off of you. Until we made eye contact. I looked away as fast as I could. I could tell my cheeks were red. But I didn’t care, because, your eyes were like stars shining down on me.

When I looked back over to see if you were still there, I saw that you were walking towards me. I looked away and started to freak out. I couldn’t keep myself under control. Then I heard the door open, and I held my breath. I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned around to see you standing in font of me. I didn’t know what to do. Then you said, “Hi, my name is Tyson Jones, I am a new patient.” All I could think was, Oh my gosh, he’s talking to me! I finally got some words out and said, “Umm hi, I’m Jessica Jacobson. I have been here for a few years.” I could tell you felt bad for me by the expression on your face. “Oh, What for?”, you said. I said, “I have leukemia. Have ever since I was 14. I’m 17 now.” You looked so shocked. “You have had cancer for 3 years? Wow. I’m here because they think there’s something wrong with my heart. They just haven’t figured it out yet.” My jaw dropped. I didn’t know what to say. I just sat there. Your doctor peeped in and told you it was time to go to your room. “Uhh ok, well it’s been nice meeting you. See you around then?” “oh yeah! See you around.” I was a little embarrassed.

I saw you the next day being rolled on one of those beds into the ER room. I sat there waiting for you to come back out. It took forever. You were in there for about three hours. I didn’t understand why it took that long. You finally came out after a while. They took you back to your room, and you never came back out. So I just went back to my room.

The next day you were waiting for me out in the hall. I was really excited to see you. “Want to go for a walk?” you asked.

“Sure! Where to?” I replied.

“Anywhere you want.”

I could feel my cheeks turn red. “ok.”

Our doctors said not to be out too late. I couldn’t make any promises though. We walked around the trail along the hospital, then to the park. I always loved going to the park, but I hadn’t been able to go lately because of the treatments. We sat down on the bench and really started to get to know each other. You were so amazing. Looking into your eyes, it just gave me butterflies. Then you put your hand on mine.

Then you asked, “Want to keep walking?”

“Sure, where to next?” I replied.

“How about over to lake?”

I don’t know if it was the way you looked at me or the way you smiled, but it made me smile so big. “Ok.” I could barely get that word out. I was speechless. You had that effect on me. We walked over to the lake and stood on the bridge. It was such a beautiful view. I wouldn’t have wanted to see it with anyone else but you. It was starting to get a little darker out, and it was getting pretty cold. I start to shiver. “Would you like my jacket?” You asked.

“Wouldn’t you be cold then?”

“No I’ll be fine.”

“Ok. Thanks.”

“Your welcome.”

You were so sweet. Then it started to rain. So we raced back to the hospital. It was about 8 o’ clock. I had a lot of fun, well we both did. I thanked you and then we just went back to our rooms. I wish I could’ve stayed with you longer. Then I realized, I always have tomorrow and the days after that. Everyday from that point on, my feelings for you grew stronger and stronger. We did pretty much everything together as time went on. Every morning you would be waiting outside my doors for me to go have breakfast. We had lunch together, dinner together, free time together. Whenever I had a treatment or something like that, you would be waiting for me when I got back to my room. Then one morning, I came out of my room, and you were;t there. I was a little worried and confused. So I just walked to the cafeteria by myself. I walked through the doors and, “SURPRISE!”, everyone yelled. I was so excited! I had forgotten about my own birthday! You Tyson, you set it all up. I was 100% in love with you. You planned a whole party for me. That was best thing anyone had ever done for me. After the party, we ran out the doors and we went back to the bridge. It was freezing out, but this time I remembered my own jacket. We stood there a few minutes, then you turned to me with something in your hand. You handed it to me and when I opened it, I about cried. It was a locket necklace with the word love going across it. Inside was a picture of you on one side, and me on the other. I needed so sit down so we went over to the bench. You put it on for me and then asked me if I liked.

“I love it.” I replied.

“Good, it took me forever to find it haha.”

“Thank you so much!”

“No Jessica, thank you.”

I was a little confuzzled. “For what?’ I asked.

You took both of my hands and said, “For coming into my life. These past 11 months, have been the best months of my life.”

I looked down out our hands and smiled. “Mine too.” Of course, whenever there’s a perfect moment it just has to rain. We ran under a tree. I looked up at you laughing. And you bent down and kissed me. I am going to be totally honest, that was my very first kissed, and let me say, best first kiss ever. My words were choking me, I didn’t know what to say. So I didn’t say anything. We just stood there for a while. It was starting to get late doe we decided to walk back to the hospital.

“I had a lot of fun tonight Jessica.”

“Me too.”

“I’ll cya tomorrow morning then.”

“Alright. Good night.”

“Good night.”

I went into my room and jumped onto my bed. I flipped onto my back and just stared up at my ceiling. I couldn’t stop smiling, my cheeks were starting to hurt. I didn’t care though. Tonight was the best night of my life.

Well, time went on as it usually did. Until one day, my doctor walked in with a concerned look on his face. Right then I knew Something was up. I didn’t understand though, I felt perfect!

“Jessica?”

I was scared to hear what he had to say. “Yes?”

“I believe your cancer is completely cured.”

“What!?!” I was so surprised! I didn’t know what to say. “I am?”

“We want to take one more test to make sure.”

“Ok! Thanks you so much!”

I was so happy, words couldn’t even describe what I was feeling. I ran out of my room and jumped into your arms.

“What happened?”

“Tyson, they think I’m cured.” “That’s great! Congradgulations.”

“Thanks. I gotta call my mom!”

When I turned around to go get the phone, there she was, waiting for me. I started crying. I was full of excitement. I ran and gave her a hug. I could feel her shaking. It’s been so long since I have hugged her, and I knew now, that it wasn’t going to be the last time I hugged her.

I went in for the last test. After we were done I waited in my room. It was completely silent. After a few moments of waiting, the doctor walked in. He looked at me, then mom, then you, then back to me. And finally, he said the words I have been waiting for, for years.

“Jessica, your free to go.”

We grabbed my stuff and took it to the car. I didn’t exactly want to go though. Leaving the hospital, meant leaving you. Yeah I could come and visit you but, I didn’t want to have to sleep with out you being there waiting for me in the morning. I didn’t want to eat breakfast with out you. I just didn’t want to be with out you. I had to go though.

I kept in tough and called you everyday, but one day you we got into a fight. It was over the stupidest thing! So stupid that, I can’t even remember what it was about! I called the next day and you didn’t answer. I wasn’t happy about that. I called the next day, no answer. Then the next day, no answer. I thought maybe you were getting tired of me so I stopped calling the rest of the week. I decided to just let you call me when you were ready. 2 weeks passed by, no call. I needed to know what was wrong so I made my mom drive me up there.

I asked to see you and they said you were in surgery. I asked what for, and they said your heart stopped beating and they needed to work on it ASAP. I wanted to cry. I couldn’t believe it. My mom and I sat down and waited. 4 hours passed. I was getting paranoid. Every few seconds I would look at the clock, then the door they would wheel you out on. Then finally, they did. They took you into a new room. When they came back out, the doctor was startled when she saw me. She came up to me, and we both sat down. She looked worried.

“Jessica, he’s in critical condition. We don’t know for sure if he’s going to make it. We did everything we could. For now we are just going to ave to wait.”

“Oh…Ok.” That’s all I could say. Anything else and I would’ve lost it. My mom gave me a hug but, I couldn’t move to give her one back. The doctor said it was ok if I went in to see you. I walked in and sat down in the chair next to you. My eyes were so watery, I couldn’t really see. I took your hand and just sat there. Speechless. Then my mom started praying. It made me cry more and more. A nurse came in and said that you were in a coma. She said they think you could hear, you just couldn’t communicate back. I told my mom to leave for a minute so I could talk to you.

“Tyson, I’m sorry for fighting with you the last time we talked. I want you to know that, I really miss you….I can’t lose you. Not now. I can’t carry on my life with out you. We gotta push through this together. I am never going to leave you. So, please don’t leave me. I love you.” It was silent for a bit. Then I felt you squeeze my hand. At first I thought I imagined it, but then you did it again. You were’t exactly awake, but I could tell you were trying to tell me something. I just took as a sign of hope.

Days went on and you still weren’t awake. I knew you were going to eventually though. I just knew. Weeks passed, then a month. My mom said that we needed to go home. I didn’t want to, I promised I would never leave you, so I didn’t. I told her that I was staying. So she let me.

Your monitor started beeping faster and faster. The nurses and the doctor rushed in to see what was happening. Your eyes started to flicker. Your hands started moving. It was like a miracle. You were waking up. I was crying really hard. I was the happiest person alive at that moment.

The doctor said she found out what was wrong with your heart. You had a major heart murmur. When they took you into surgery, they were able to fix it and while you were in the coma, it healed. You no longer had a heart problem. THey said they wanted you to stay for the rest of the week and make sure things were clear.

I was so happy for you. You got out of your bed and hugged me. You were squeezing so hard I lost my breathe. You sat back down on the bed and said you heard what I had said. I knew it. You said you squeezed my hand to try to tell me that, you felt the same way and that, you weren’t giving up.

The week passed fast. You were finally able to go back home, and by home, I mean back closer to me. As the years went by, there was never a time we were apart from each other.

With out you, Tyson Jones, I wouldn’t be who I am now. Thank you for being my savior, and thank you for never giving up on me.

You guys listening to my story, maybe wondering what happened to Tyson and I. Well, all I can say is, no better way to end a story then with a happy ever after.

I think that says it all.