Because of his father’s passing, Jefferson McCamley 9 has become the strong individual he is today.

“It all started back in March of 2018. My dad found out that he was growing a lump on his neck. At first, the doctors thought it was a goiter or something that could easily be removed, but then he found out that it was cancer. Over the last couple months, he started to deteriorate. He was more pale, he had a fiery temper, but then he became very calm and never got on our bad side; even if we did something that would usually make him mad. He eventually underwent chemotherapy to get it removed; he couldn’t have surgery because that would cut too many arteries in that area, which would kill him. Three days before he was done with chemotherapy, they found holes in his chest. The cancer had spread into his chest. The next month or so of his life was just going  in and out of the hospital; having nose bleeds. One morning I woke up to see him next to the toilet with blood all over it, and we took him to the hospital that morning. Eventually, he had to be moved to a ward where they put people that are elderly or dying in, and they try to make it like home. The day before he died, he was happy, energetic, he was eating ice cream, and then the next day, he was barely functioning; he couldn’t move, he couldn’t talk, his eyes were opening and closing. Everything was going wrong for him. All I could remember was going home that night and sitting there in shock. We got a phone call, and the nurse told us that he had died. We couldn’t really believe it, so we weren’t in much pain at first, but for the next two months my mom just sat in her room; just lying there and doing nothing. I had to persevere through eighth grade without my father and that was really hard for me. But by the time graduation came, I felt more confident. My grades were getting back up; during that first month, all my grades were going down because I couldn’t focus. I would just sit there and think all day long about my father. Eventually I overcame it by watching a lot of films that he had because he liked to collect blu ray players. Regardless of what they were about, I would watch them and feel happy again. Ever since that day, I’ve been the same as I am now.”