“Live your life in the moment and as unplanned  as you can Melissa, because we never know if we have another tomorrow.” John Hensworth said to his daughter, talking around the tubes coming out of his mouth, even though the doctor had specifically told him not to speak unless it was urgent. The IV and other cords that the nurses had attached to him when he arrived at the hospital, were flying around, getting tangled together from his overly dramatic hand gestures that he always used. Melissa sat and listened to her dad’s rant about how life is precious, and if you only live your life with a set schedule, never just do things in the moment, you are going to miss out on so many great opportunities.
“Moral of the story little Melissa life is short, cherish the little things, and the unplanned adventures, they may come unexpectedly but those are the things you will never forget” John concluded.
Melissa gave her dad a little smile and laid her head down on his lap, so he didn’t see the tears in her eyes. She tried not to think of the accident but she couldn’t help it, it’s something her dad should not have gone through, “We shouldn’t even be here, we shouldn’t be sitting in this hospital room right now, he shouldn’t be hooked up to all these machines. We should be reclined on the sofa right now, watching the Giants game while mom works in the kitchen for sunday family dinner,” she thought to herself.
“That man is going to jail dad, I am going to make sure he has to pay for what he caused. Once he gets out of this hospital I will do everything in my power to make sure he doesn’t get away with this.” Melissa muttered, thinking back on what happened a couple days before.
John Hensworth had been driving home late friday night, after a long day at the office. He coasted down the skinny, two lane road that he drives down every night. John began to slow his truck as he passed a caution sign that warns about the sharp turn coming up less than a mile down the dark road, this turn has been the cause of several accidents in the past. On the other side of that turn Nathan Abraham was on his way home after getting thrown out of the bar he had been sitting in for half of the day. Unlike Mr. Hensworth, Nathan didn’t slow his truck for the sharp turn and veered into the opposite lane, colliding into John’s vehicle making it flip, and roll down into the ditch on the side of the road.  Nathan veered back onto the road after hitting him, he looked back at the accident for a moment and when he turned  around to focus on the road, he saw headlights coming towards him, he overcorrected his truck which caused his truck to flip several times.
Melissa was the first person at the hospital, where the EMT’s described the details and conditions of the accident to her, she thought about each detail as she sat by her dad’s hospital bed. She picked her head up off her dad’s lap and found that he was sleeping, so she decided to go home and get some rest herself. As she was walking out of the room, a nurse was walking in,
“Have a good night Melissa, when will we see you next?” The nurse asked
“I’ll be back tomorrow, it’s been a long couple of days I’m just going to go home and get some sleep, and fill in the rest of the family on his condition.” Melissa replied
“Alright well you have a good rest of your evening I’ll see you later on then.” The nurse said and walked into the room.
Melissa layed in bed that night, thinking about how she could make sure that Nathan Abraham was held responsible for what he did to her father. Melissa and her family couldn’t find a decent lawyer and she was only half way through law school, so she couldn’t take the case yet. The next thing she knew her phone was ringing, and the hospital’s contact was on the screen, “no, no, no, please don’t let this be about what I think it is” she thought
“Hello?” she answered
“Hello, I’m looking for a Melissa Hensworth,” the voice on the phone said
“This is she,” Melissa replied “what’s going on? how’s my father?” Melissa asked frantically
“I’m sorry Ms. Hensworth, but after you left your father’s temperature rose and he went into cardiac arrest, we tried to resucitate him but he was already gone. I’m sorry to have to tell you this over the phone Melissa, we truly did try everything in our power.” The nurse said
“Okay thank you.” that was all Melissa could manage to say, and hung up
Melissa  and her mom began the funeral arrangements the next day, and got everything set up for the funeral the following weekend. After the funeral everyone went back to life as normal, but the bad news didn’t stop there for Melissa. Before her dad died, she had tests done, which came back positive for Osteosarcoma, a form of bone cancer.  Not only did she lose her dad, but would be facing death herself.. Melissa laid her head in her hands and took a shallow breath. Cancer . Could this really be happening?
The cold, white walls of the chemotherapy center did nothing to lighten  Melissa’s mood.  After the news of her bone cancer,  Melissa was scheduled for treatment with powerful and toxic chemotherapy agents, and surgery. Melissa closed her eyes wearily and laid her back on the chair where she sat, while the chemo infusion dripped into her arm.  She said a silent goodbye to her dreams of finishing law school and starting her own law practice. Melissa had made the decision to travel , see the world, and experience life by the moment. Life was so very short and you never knew when your time would be up. A sad smile played across Melissa’s face, Her dad had been right, live for the moment.