"Autobiography of a Face" by Lucy Grealy is a novel that will keep you interested throughout the whole 223 pages. I was unsure of what to expect when I first stared reading Grealy's tale, but as I continued to read, her story hit home. It was great that I had the opportunity to read a novel by a character who I could truly relate to.
Lucy was just an average nine year old girl; she had so much ahead of her. However, one event out on the playground would change her life forever. Lucy, not one of the most gifted athletes, was running to catch a kickball out at recess when her and another boy had a head on collision. The prognosis was a broken jaw, but that was only the beginning.
Soon after the accident, Lucy continued to feel pain radiate through her jaw, and a bump began to grow there. After careful examination, Lucy was diagnosed with a rare type of cancer. I learned later on that if this accident never occurred, the tumor may not have even caused a problem. It was also brought to my attention that she would not have found the cancer until it was too late if it wasn't for the accident. With this said, the collision may have been a miracle.
This hits home with me because as a sophomore in high school, I was continually left breathless and in indescribible pain. When I took a visit to the doctor I was diagnosed with ovarian cysts. One day in march I left school for emergency surgery to have them removed, and the doctor decided to also remove my appendix. I was later told that there was a malignant tumor in my appendix. I then had to have an MRI to ensure that it had not spread elsewhere. Thankfully, it hadn't.
Like Lucy, I was fortunate enough to discover the cancer early simply by chance. If either of us had not been so lucky, I can't imagine what we could have been left to face down the road.
