Chemo Not On The Osbourn Park Prom Card, Only Masks

      Two images of proms, that rite of passage, complete with limo, corsage, dinner, and an evening of good music and fun with date and friends. Fond memories to last long after one leaves high school. In one case a senior prom at Jonathan Law in Connecticut ended in tragedy when Maren Sanchez turned down a date request to it and was stabbed to death by the 16 year old boy who had asked her. Tragic, simply tragic.
       The other image of a senior prom is one held at Osbourn Park High School in Virginia involving Jared Hill and Emily Jarrell and their friends. Jared was going to ask Emily to the prom but had a slight problem; he had just been diagnosed with testicular cancer and with chemotherapy could not put himself at risk to infection by going with Emily to the prom without wearing a  surgical mask.  No one wants to  be at a senior prom singled out as the only one wearing a mask. In an inspiring "you are not alone moment" the teens came up with the creative solution. Jared, Emily and their friends all donned masks and went to the prom. Our youth can show compassion and caring and in this case did. Kudos to all the masks that night. Accolade below:
Chemo Not On The Osborn Park Prom Card, Only Masks

18 years old with cancer would make anyone break down and cry

A whole life ahead and now you might way too early die

Cancer makes one different though not contagious not a disease from a patient to catch

Chemo takes its toll on the body, takes your hair, makes you gag and retch

Outcast, different, losing weight, bald, a sapping of the survival will

Immune system checks out and the slightest infection can kill

Proms are a rite of passage that no young teen would want to miss

Even as he stares into the unknown of cancer's deadly abyss

Jared you are a hero to this disease try to confront and to fight

Take your Emily to her prom to make it a special, lasting night

But a prom is not worth the infection you might receive

So how do a sense of abandonment Jared's friends relieve

Like the students in other schools shaving heads to show chemo support

The news out of Osbourn Park High is inspiring to report

Jared's and Emily's friends joined to all wear masks

No one different, all able to in the prom magic bask

Warms the heart to know our young can show compassion and care

Wearing masks in support, no heads turned in pity or repulsive stares

Even better yet, Osbourn Park High was not worried about masks being against a prom code

For Jared and Emily and their friends a night of music and dance to forget chemo problems down the road. 

© May 13, 2014 Michael P. Ridley aka the Alaskanpoet