Five Guys Named "Stash"

Reflections on Mortality and the Bildungsroman

When I was seven years old, I learned how to die.

I had been diagnosed with leukemia. As the hospital was under construction with only about half of the building usable, I found myself assigned a bed in the adult male oncology ward where every other patient was the age of my grandfather. I have to say, they really liked having a kid around to share in th…