When I was younger and obsessed with becoming an artist, the hospital was my New York loft apartment. I would move the furniture around to create space on the floor, throw down some sheets and indulge in any form of art that I could get my hands on.
I didn't want to be one of those people who was resentful. The moment you start saying to people that their lives must be miserable because they're sick, you give their sickness value over them.
A lot of people say when you get a short life span you want to go out and do all of this crazy stuff like go bungee jumping and travel to exotic places. But you just want to live.
I was only 13 years old when I was forced to face the fragility of my own life. A routine surgery landed me in a medically induced coma for two weeks with a mere 1% chance of surviving. But survive I did.
As I got older, my life become a whirlwind of homework and responsibilities. The hospital became my retreat, a place to gather my thoughts and focus on my health. The nurses are my friends as well as my caretakers. The doctors are my parents as well as my physicians.
