When Dashia turned 10, she began to struggle with keeping up with the other kids on the playground. She did not pay it much attention, and in turn, neither did her family. It wasn’t until a year later, after extended bouts of fatigue that Dashia could no longer write off as part of adolescence, that the family grew concerned. Was the cancer returning? Was it simply a childhood illness? Though it wasn’t cancer, unfortunately for Dashia and her family, it was very serious.
The life-saving chemotherapy Dashia received eight years before resulted in a condition that was causing her heart to fail. While she couldn’t play sports at the same level she used to, or run around with the other kids for quite as long, she didn’t make time for explanations and kept the details to herself. For Dashia, it was really a matter of taking her medication faithfully and continuing to carry on.
In fact, no activity was too difficult for Dashia, including her academics, which she excelled at in spite of everything. Dashia confronted each new challenge in her life with unparalleled bravery. College, career, cancer, there was nothing that Dashia could not overcome with a positive attitude and her unique brand of resilience, except heart failure.