It was freshman year, and every day after school, I would have a migraine—and lose my vision.

I told my aunt that I couldn’t take this pain that I was having—so she called a doctor and made

an appointment. From that point on, we were seeing different doctors from Chicago to

Milwaukee...and no one seemed to know what was going on.

The last doctor we visited was a brain specialist, and he looked at me and said he couldn’t find

anything wrong with me. He recommended that I go to my eye doctor to get my vision checked.

We made an appointment with Dr. Thompson. When she was doing my eye exam, she said she

saw a lot of pressure in the back of my eye—and sent me for an MRI. We did what she said and

waited. We waited for days, and just thought they had forgotten to call. So we went on with our

daily lives.

On June 3, 2009, it was the last day of school, and the last day of finals, the last period of the

day. I can remember watching a movie in Mrs. Engstrom’s class. The bell rang and our summer

started, but before I could leave, I had to turn in my books. I darted to the bookstore and waited

in a long line where I eventually gave up and started walking out to the buses. As I walked out, I

saw my aunt and cousin waiting outside. My aunt said that the MRI place called, and I needed

to go to the hospital immediately! As we were driving, I was freaking out and asking all these

questions, but my aunt had no clue as to why we had to go there.

Finally, we got to Lutheran General Hospital. Up to the 8 th floor and to the right was the door to

sadness. We sat in the waiting room anxiously. Then we were called into a room where there

was a woman, and a surgeon named Dr. Ruge. He sat us down and said that I had a brain

tumor. My heart sank like the Titanic, and it was quiet in the room. I did all I could to hold back

my tears. They told us information like what things they were going to do to help, setting up my

brain biopsy for the next day, informed us it was too dangerous for me to go home. Once they

left the room, everyone broke down in tears. We called everyone as we were waiting to get

checked into the hospital. Now looking back, it is crazy to me because I was supposed to be on

a plane the next day to visit my grandparents. Dr. Ruge said that if they wouldn’t have called me

when they did, and I had gotten on that plane—I would have died from the pressure of the

cabin.

That day I realized God had my back.

The next day I had my brain biopsy and was given a name for my tumor—and was informed

that I had a 30% chance of making it with no exact cure. Over the course of two years, I went

through 36 radiation treatments, 6 chemotherapies, 1 major lung surgery, 4 port procedures,

many blood transfusions and a lot of trips to the ER for high fevers and low blood platelets.

With the grace of God, I beat the odds and am happy to report that I have beaten cancer. I was

able to catch up my junior year and graduate on time with my 2012 class. Where I then went off

to college and graduated with my associate degree in 2019. I had a relapse in 2022 that was

benign and surgically removed. It’s been 15 years since that dreadful day, but I am blessed

because of it. That made me into the person I am today.