A close friend of mine unexpectedly
lost her twin sister due to complications from cancer. I asked her to be a guest blogger
today. Please read her journey
below.
A Test of Sisterhood - By Courtney Waller
I
watched in awe as Kim ordered a second pouring of the $11 glass of white wine.
I rarely spent more than $10 on a whole bottle. She was in town for her annual
Christmas visit. This was our one chance to go out alone. ‘Is this how
cancer survivors live?,’ I remember
thinking. Kim ordered the meal and drinks that she wanted that night. She had
decided to put her MFA in Creative Writing to great use and write a novel. I
was honored when she suggested we do the project together. In April, Kim, our
parents, my husband and our two children were planning to go to Disney World
for a family vacation/celebration. We were also making our plans to visit the
Dominican Republic together, just the two of us.
Kim
celebrated the conclusion of her radiation treatment a few months earlier with
friends in an all-inclusive Miami resort. I was invited but did not go. How could I take time off work that
time of year? How would I pay for
the flight from Atlanta to Miami?
We could always have our own celebration later. Kim had survived
Hodgkins Lymphoma. We had time—at least that’s what we thought…
A
month after our night on the town, Kim called our home to ask my husband
Jacquay for iPhone advice. We joked about the “real” reason she called: to wish
our son a happy third birthday. Somehow, Kim had managed to send the gift on
time but hadn’t remembered the correct day to call. No one could talk to Kim
McCoy without responding to her contagious and genuine laughter. That night was
the last time I’d ever hear my twin sister’s voice.
At
3:19AM, the following day, I found myself staring at the large red numbers on
the alarm clock, unable to sleep. Two hours later, our father called to let me
know that Kim was in a Florida Emergency Room with pneumonia. Unexpected calls
from my parents still make me nervous. By the end of that day, my parents,
husband, his mother, several of Kim’s friends and I had made their way to the
hospital at various times throughout the day by plane and by car. My children
were now in the care of my father-in-law. My mother-in-law wanted to stay with
us longer, but was needed to help with the children. As a nurse who specializes
in treating cancer patients, she was able to help my parents decipher the
medical talk and what we could expect next.
Kim’s ex-husband
visited the next day. I tried to warn him of Kim’s condition over the phone.
However, the sight of her attached to machines and unable to breathe on her own
forced him to stumble backwards. That was also the day that a nurse informed me
that Kim had coded around 3:00 AM Saturday morning—the same moment I was
suddenly awakened and unable to sleep.
On February 1,
2012, my twin sister Kim passed away peacefully in the hospital. I held her
right hand. Mommy held her left while Daddy stood close by with my husband at
her feet. Her illness was the result of a rare infection related to her cancer
treatment. We were both thirty-three, just a few months shy of our next
birthday and now a lifetime away from all of our plans.
To this day, Kim
is always on my mind. Dealing with the pain of losing her is a continuous part
of my life now. I struggle not to dwell on how unfair this all seems. Yet,
tears cloud my vision as I write this post. I am thankful for the thirty-three
years we had together. At times, the memories of peace and her joy that I felt
visiting her in the hospital confuse me. I know she waited for us to get there.
I know she waited for me. We began our lives together as tiny cells in our
mother’s womb, invisible and undetectable. Even now our bond may be invisible
to others, but it is so very real and tangible to me.
Courtney and Kim