In January 2017, I was 24 years old and had just started working in a hospital in the northeast. Mere days after starting my new job, my dad was diagnosed with metastatic liver cancer. He was hospitalized where I worked, so I was able to have lunch with him every day. A few months later, I had to be admitted to the hospital when I started having severe stomach pain while visiting him. 

The doctors thought I may have a hernia...