Sarah was leaving the cancer center after she had just been told she had breast cancer. Being a nurse working at a breast cancer center for women, she had seen women everyday who were going through treatment for breast cancer. She never thought it could ever happen to her, but what she thought would never happen did.

Her doctor told her that they thought they caught it early, but she would have to go through treatment. She knew that when the doctor’s office called immediately then it was serious. Little did she know that policy was used only by her office.


Driving home, the tears came down her face like the rain from a hurricane, making it hard to see. She could not think of a way to deal with everything that came with cancer, and she didn’t want to be in pain like some of the women she had treated. The women she took care of everyday got very sick and were always depressed. They lost their hair, and she didn’t want to feel ugly. Sarah was thinking of every option she could to avoid the pain.

When she finally arrived home, she remembered she had a whole bottle of sleeping pills. She sat on the couch with the bottle of pills and a glass of water. She was saying her goodbye’s to herself, thinking about her family. With final resolution, she took every pill in the bottle and washed it down with vodka. She slowly started to lose all control of her body. She fell down on the couch and she lay there helpless. Then in the quiet before the storm, the phone rang. Lying in the floor on her death bed, the answering machine went off.

“This is Debbie from Dr. Stripe’s office, we got your results mixed up with someone else’s. We are so sorry, and we apologize about the mix up, but you do not have cancer. I’m very sorry for the scare.”

She tried to get up, but all her muscles were dead, and at that time it was too late. She took her last breath.