On today’s front page, you read about the Mahjong tournament and fundraising event for Crack at a Cure in honor of Saville Sullivan Larkin. 

I first want to thank our intern Kat for writing up this story. Saville was a close friend of mine in high school and we later both attended the University of Alabama. It was there she was diagnosed with brain cancer at the same time as her younger sister Lilia. 

Saville was younger than me in high school, but we developed a friendship through our mutual best friend Grey. By the time my senior year rolled around, it was almost guaranteed I would be with Grey, Saville, and our other friend Virginia. 

We would go to our local Chinese restaurant House of China, where they knew our order by heart and gossip about all the latest school drama- who was dating who, what happened that week, and who we were crushing on. 

It didn’t matter to me that they were younger. They were my girl gang. 

As I left for college, I didn’t get to see them quite as often, but I always filled them in when I came home from college, and they continued to fill me in on what was happening in the hallways at Deerfield. 

When Saville decided to come to Alabama, I was ecstatic. I missed her and hoped this small piece of home would help us both in continuing to adjust to a new town five hours from Albany. 

She joined KD, while I was in Gamma Phi Beta, so our paths didn’t cross as often as I had hoped. But, after I had my seizure at Alabama and needed a ride back home and to school, she was there for me every step of the way, even when my sorority sisters weren’t. No matter how much time passed, I could always count on her. 

When she got sick and left Alabama, I felt upset that I couldn’t be that person for her. With her being in Atlanta, and me being in Tuscaloosa, I wasn’t able to be the friend I wanted to be. But, our paths would cross again. When I moved to Bainbridge, Saville moved to Tallahassee to become a Child Life Specialist at TMH. 

I regularly visited Tallahassee and reached out to her to try and reconnect, but our schedules were constantly overlapping and a short time later, she got sick again. This time was different. She would not return to Tallahassee. 

Nearing the end of her life, I felt riddled with anger at myself for not seeing her more and saddened that I hadn’t met her sooner in my life. 

When she passed away, I had not seen her face to face in quite some time, but every memory of our high school nights came flooding back, and I felt gutted that I wouldn’t have those nights again. 

While I can never make up for the time lost between us, and the time I will never have with my friend again, Crack at a Cure is a chance to help save someone else’s Saville. Someone else’s friend who is there no matter what is going on. 

I hope that next Saturday’s event will shine a light on the beautiful person and friend she was and that through her story, we can raise awareness and find a cure for a disease that has taken far too much.