Durban - Westville Girls’ High School matriculant Angelique “Angie” Wheeler, wrote one of her exams in a hospital bed and could not write the last one as her chemotherapy treatment could not wait.
The 19-year-old was diagnosed with cancer just a week before starting her final exams.
“I was feeling pain in my stomach but I thought it was indigestion or stress because I was studying so hard,” she said.
Her mother Simone bought her some over-the-counter medication but when Angie’s stomach began to grow larger, took her to the doctor.
He found a lump in her stomach.
“When I heard the word lump, I went numb. He sent me for an ultrasound straight after and scheduled me for another test. When I got home I studied very hard for my next exam to block it out, but in the back of my mind I knew that this was serious because the doctor looked serious and stressed about it,” said Angie.
Even when the results of the subsequent tests came back with a diagnosis of cancer, Angie did not want to dwell on it because her grandmother had breast cancer and was an outpatient, so she didn’t think “cancer was that serious”.
Angie has enjoyed a full and active teenage life and had never been hospitalised for any serious illness.
So she continued to focus on her exams and although she started treatment, continued to go to school to write.
She has to be in Inkosi Albert Luthuli Central Hospital for up to four weeks at a time for chemotherapy, has lost her hair but says “it’s cool”, especially since her younger brother William shaved his hair as well.
She had planned to take a gap year to dedicate to community service and learn more about her strengths and interests before deciding on a career path.
What has kept Angie positive is her family, mother Simone, dad Christian, siblings William, Charnay and Bernadette. She also credits her positive outlook to the hundreds of people following her story, liking her artwork she creates in hospital, donating and sending messages of encouragement on the Facebook page Angels for Angie Wheeler, created by her mother’s friend Debbi Tucker.
“It’s been a really hard year, matric is really gruelling and it got even harder for me when I got sick. But I’ve learned to have compassion through people’s compassion towards me, I’ve learned to be patient and determined and to see the bigger picture in life.
“I’m really grateful for my life and the people in it, that’s what keeps me going,” said Angie.
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