Hand Beneath the Infusion

This photograph was taken while I was receiving a blood transfusion, before I knew chemotherapy would become part of my life. I look at this picture differently now. A small red line carrying someone else's blood into my body. Something donated by a stranger, helping to keep me alive. I didn't know how many hospital visits were ahead of me. How familiar the needles, medications, and treatment room smells would become. How much of my life would eventually revolve around trying to stay alive. I look at this photograph and see a body that was already fighting something I couldn't fully understand. I wish I could go back and tell the person in this photograph what was coming. But more than anything, I wish someone had listened to this person sooner.