(Leah) Smoking gave me colorectal cancer.
(Asaad) My mom and I, we are really a team because there was
times where she didn't want to get out of bed
and she would fight me, like all day, she's like,
"Nah. I'm not getting up, like, leave me alone."
You know, and I'm like,
"Nah, I'm not just gonna let you just rot. You gotta fight!"
Those days were, they were very grim.
I didn't know what was wrong with me,
I just knew that something was wrong with me.
I wasn't eating, and I started to lose weight.
When I was going to the bathroom,
I was starting to see blood in my stool.
Well, I was 19.
My goal was always just I can't see my mom pass away.
You've gotta be a fighter with this type of illness
because of the fact that, it's not gonna stop, you know,
it's like an everyday thing.
The biggest part is just the medicine every morning
in the regimen, try to get up, you know, let's, you know,
get you bathed, make breakfast.
Phone calls, there was a lot of them. Or making appointments.
Appointments, appointments, appointments.
You cannot give years back to the people who help you.
If you care about your family,
you don't want to put them in that situation.