If I Die Young

"C'mon, Hailey. We can do it - run away, move to America, my Aunty has an apartment in New York, we'll buy it off her. We can do this Hailey, I promise, I won't let you down."

I never did do the things I really wanted to do. Sky dive, meet a celebrity, fall in love, go to Paris, have children, grow old. Other kids just don’t appreciate what they have: a whole life ahead of them. However, I, Hailey Woods, only have a year to live.

I don’t have enough time to fall in love, or see the Eiffel tower. I can never experience the love and happiness that explodes inside you when you hold your baby for the first time. I can never watch my baby grow old with my husband, while we grow old together too.

The closest I’ll ever get to any kind of wedding is a high school dance at the end of year. I can only ever baby sit my two year old cousin, instead of looking after my own child.

I already wrote my will, planned my funeral and prepared myself for death, all at the age of sixteen. I suffer from Acute Myeloid Leukaemia; the doctors call it AML, and I can tell you one thing.

I'm terrified.