In the June 2008 issue of Glamour magazine readers were introduced to Andrea Coller, a young hairstylist/musician/shopgirl who won Glamour’s fifth essay contest with a fierce, funny and touching story of her battle with cancer. In the July issue, however, we learned that just as the essay was hitting newsstands, Coller died of complications from her Hodgkin’s lymphoma.
Coller’s essay, titled “I want my life back,” didn’t paint a picture of a suffering saint. She was a live-out-loud kind of girl who was mad as hell that cancer was trying to steal her spunk.
Coller’s essay, titled “I want my life back,” didn’t paint a picture of a suffering saint. She was a live-out-loud kind of girl who was mad as hell that cancer was trying to steal her spunk.
Coller’s best friend Meredith told Glamour, “She put her soul out into the world despite her struggles, wrote things heartbreaking and hilarious and lived like she meant.”
Editor-in-chief Cindi Leive said this of Coller’s essay: “It’s an amazing reminder that you can’t make life longer, but you can make it deeper. ”
These statements have stuck with me. Am I living like I mean it? Am I committed to, each day, making my life deeper, richer and fuller than it was the day before?
The truth is, no. I’m not. And that’s a shame. I have no excuse. But in honor of Andrea Coller and all other young women who have been robbed of their lives by cancer, Lupus and other illnesses, I’m making a promise to myself that from now on I will enjoy today like there is no tomorrow. I hope you’ll do the same.
Click here to read Coller’s Glamour essay.
(Crossposted on my Skirt! blog.)
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