April brought many downturns for the young writer whose hip fractured because of an over grown tumor. Parlette's lungs were also unable to function on their own. In more gut-wrenching news, friends read her favorite novel “To Kill a Mockingbird” to her during the final hours.
Twenty minutes after her high school English teacher finished the last chapter, Parlette passed away.
The love for writing happened before the tragedy. Ms. Parlette graduated from the University of Nevada Reno with a journalism degree and worked as a copy editor for The Chronicle.
The column “Alicia's Story” turned her into the writer she always wished to be. "It became really like a lifeline in a way for me because I would often come to conclusions about things - things I didn't even realize until I had written them,” as stated the San Francisco Chronicle.
The ultimate goal of the column was to turn the articles into a book. "Wait, wait, hold on. I'm not any kind of medical person, so you're going to have to explain. We're talking about cancer, right? Sarcoma is a kind of cancer?” stated Alicia in her column.
“What would you do if you were 23 and your doctor called with news that was going to change your life?”
Written by Amy Munday
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