Maggie Prestwick was a 16 year old girl who lived a pretty much ideal teenage life. She just got her divers license, she had multiple best friends, and she was on the cheer leading team. Maggie was never one of those stuck-up popular girls but she was very well liked. She always thought her life was boring and average until she found out some news that would change her life.

She was having really bad headaches and the doctor could never figure out why. They thought she might just be growing or something that happens to most people. Her mom was getting worried about her so she decided to bring her somewhere to get a cat scan. The doctor thought she was fine and this was unnecessary but he was very surprised by the results. Maggie was sitting in the waiting room with her mom Stephanie when Maggie said reassuringly
“Mom I don’t understand why we are here. I’m fine!” little did she know she was about to find out news that would not go well with her. The doctor came out to tell Maggie and her mother the horrible news.
“I’m sorry Mrs. Prestwick, we have very bad news.”
Maggie and her mom were both very confused.
“We have found a tumor in the back of Maggie’s head allowing her only 3 months to live.”
The doctor said. Maggie did not know how to react to this, “that can’t be true” Maggie thought nervously. She just got her drivers license, she just got asked to her first homecoming dance, and she just got put on the cheerleading. Her mother was a mess she started crying and soon Maggie was comforting her instead of the other way around.
“Mom it’s okay! Maybe there is something that we can do to fix this.”
The doctor assured both Maggie and her mother that they would do everything in their power to try to find a way to prevent this from happening to her. They told her mother not to do anything drastic like take Maggie out of school yet because they would see what they can do first. Maggie could not even believe that this was happening to her at her age. She thought to herself “this is not fair, I’m not ready to die yet I’m only 16!”

The first thing they had to do when they left the hospital was tell her dad and 2 older brothers what was happening to Maggie. When they arrived at home everything was normal, it was just like every other Saturday in the Prestwick house. They walked inside and she sat on the couch thinking that her life might really be ending. Stephanie told her husband Peter to go wake up the two boys, Luke and Landon. All of the family sat together on the couches in the living room and Stephanie told them the bad news.
“Maggie has a tumor in the back of her head. They say she will only live 3 more months.”
Maggie’s mother could barely finish her sentence that she was crying so hard. Both of her brothers were 18 and she hadn’t seen them cry since they were maybe 12. Everyone was upset and Maggie knew it was because of her and she didn’t even know how to react. She felt like this was all a sick joke and tomorrow morning everything would go back to her everyday average life. The rest of the day was spent as a family. They watched probably ten movies that day, all being happy ones of course. This was the first Saturday that she had spent with her brothers in years. She knew that this was going to change her family but she didn’t know if it was for the better or worse.

Maggie could not stop thinking about how to tell her friends and what people would think when they found this out. She decided that she would keep it to herself for a few days until she returned to her next doctor’s appointment. For the next three days she went to school and acted like nothing was wrong. Occasionally, things would happen that made her realize how much she would miss being a teenager. She still didn’t believe that this was happening to her and she thought the doctors would fix it. She was anxiously awaiting her next trip the doctor to see what the final outcome would be.

Wednesday rolled around faster than Maggie expected. She was so nervous to go because this appointment would decide her future. This time Maggie’s mom and dad were both taking her in case things went bad. Everyone had butterflies in their stomach awaiting the news. The nurse called them into the room where they waited for the doctor. When the doctor walked in he had a very concerned look on his face.
“Well Maggie, I got the result from the hospital. It’s bad news; there is no cure for this. The positive side of this is that you will be healthy and well up until your final days with us.” At that moment Maggie lost it. “This can’t happen to me! I don’t want to die mom! I don’t want to go! This isn’t fair!”
Maggie was in hysterics thinking about so shortly her life would end. She had to leave the room while her parents talked it over with the doctor. She went outside and sat on the curb crying until an old man came up to her and asked her if she was okay.

“I’m not okay! I’m dying!” Saying this made if so real for Maggie, she NEVER thought that this would happen to her. The old man sat her down and tried to calm her down. “You know sweetie, life is just a temporary place to be before we go home to God. He has plans for all of us and this is yours. Think about how luck you are! You can do everything that you would want to do before you die. Life throws us difficult situations but we have to make the best of them.”

Every since that day Maggie lived each day she had left to the fullest. She knew that this was it. Her last and final month, in the time since she talked to the old man she dropped out of school, traveled to Greece, went to the beach with her family, and went skydiving! Maggie and her friends created an organization for youth in their community to get involved in that helped other children like Maggie do things they want to do before they die. She had never been happier in her life and she showed her family and friends what it means to cherish what you have.

The day finally came when Maggie left the Prestwick family. The family knew that Maggie did not want them to be sad but they just lost something very important to them. The community gathered and everyone remembered Maggie together. They would never let anyone forget the memory of her. To this day there are still days held in the community to honor her and her family and other families like them. Her family knew that she was gone… but Maggie was never forgotten.