[Breast Cancer Battle Comic Essay] ep20: Working While Undergoing Treatment (Part 2)

Episode 20

CHOCO'S column

The courage to take a helping hand

The reason I was able to finish the studio work safely was entirely due to the support of my friends.

I have been helped by so many friends up until now.
When I was wavering over whether to quit the studio for treatment, it was the former owner, A-san, who gave me the push I needed.
When my treatment plan was decided and I was feeling unstable and panicking, it was S-ko who gently stayed by my side and supported me.

And it was my friend, M-san, who worked with me so I could see my dream studio through to the end.

Although I wasn't able to feature her as a main character in the manga, she makes a brief appearance in the second and third panels of the first page.
I don't think it would have been possible to continue the studio to the end without her.

When I announced that I was stopping studio reservations, M-san was the first person to contact me.

In fact, M-san had the experience of losing her sister-in-law to cancer.
At the time of her passing, her sister-in-law was still in her 20s, and the diagnosis was a brain tumor.
I heard she had been going to the hospital frequently due to headaches, but she was diagnosed with migraines and continued her life while taking painkillers.
However, one day, she suddenly had a seizure, collapsed, and was rushed to the hospital. After that, she passed away in just nine months.

I had heard this story from M-san herself before, and since she was of my generation, I was very shocked when I first heard it.
Honestly, as someone who was still young and inexperienced, I couldn't find the words to say.

When running the studio became difficult on my own, I consulted M-san, and she said this to me:

"I'll do anything, whether it's watching the shop or assisting, so let's do our best until the end."

Those were very powerful words.

That said, she has her own life and work to attend to, so asking her to watch the shop or assist me was not something I could ask lightly.
Even so, M-san and her husband both said to me:

"If there is something we can do, we don't want to have any regrets."
Her sister-in-law passed away just nine months after the onset of the disease.

When the brain tumor was discovered, it had apparently already spread over a wide area.
They were able to remove the tumor surgically, but they couldn't get it all, and since she lost half of her brain, she was unable to hold a conversation after the surgery...
I had always remembered the words of regret M-san let slip at the time: "I might have been able to do something, but it was all so sudden that I couldn't do anything."

Pushed by those words, I decided to rely on her kindness.

Thanks to M-san adjusting her own work schedule to come into the studio, I was able to continue operating without taking days off, even on days when I couldn't move due to tests or the side effects of chemotherapy.

The final day of closing the studio that had been my dream.

My body wouldn't move the way I wanted it to and I was full of anxiety, but my husband drove me to the studio and M-san got everything ready.
Even during the shoot, thanks to M-san working as my assistant until the very end, I was able to finish it all safely.

Even though it was for treatment, I had a lot of hesitation about the decision to close the studio. But if I had left my work unfinished back then, I think I would only have regrets looking back now.

M-san, and her husband.

Thanks to you both, I was able to run until the very end. I am truly grateful from the bottom of my heart.
Also, I would like to express my gratitude once again for giving me permission to write about this in this column, despite it involving painful memories.

M-san told me, "I want many people to know about this." Taking those feelings to heart, I have written this piece.
I have said this repeatedly, but cancer is a very familiar disease.

We live in an era where it could happen to anyone at any time. That is precisely why early detection and early treatment are more important than anything else.
This is not someone else's problem; when you or a loved one close to you suffers from a serious illness—
I wrote this column with the hope that as many people as possible can make choices without regrets.
[CHOCO]

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