As a child, I was brought up into a Christian family. We always went to church on Sunday, we always prayed before our meals. So it wasn't much surprise that I accepted the Lord as my savior and was baptized at a fairly young age. Ever since then, I have tried to dedicate my life to God, serving Him and keeping in His will as best as I can.

Throughout most of my high school days, especially towards the end, I lived what felt like a fairly independant life. Not that I didn't try to be like Christ- I did- however, as far as people living in my house, there were very few. My 6th grade year my parents got divorced, and I lived with my mom and my 2 older sisters. As time went on my sisters moved in and out, and eventually towards the latter half of my high school days it was just me and my mom. Since my mom worked a lot to support us, I lived those couple of years without much supervision, save God. My mom trusted me enough to make my own decisions, and I decided that the best thing to do would be just to rely on God and let Him lead my life. I am glad I made this decision, because otherwise my senior year would have been impossible to get through without His help and leadership.

At the beginning of my senior year, I was diagnosed with cancer. This came as quite a shock to me, as I'm sure you can imagine. Fortunately, God is always watching over us and protecting us, and after a minor surgery the cancer was removed. However, towards the end of 1996, I was dignosed with cancer again, this time in my abdominal lymph nodes. The short of it is that after a major surgery and 2 months of chemotherapy, I have been healthy now for 5 years, praise God! He has been my healer and my protector, and without His strength I would never have been able to endure the pain that I had to go through, both physical and emotional.

The physical effects of chemotherapy are obvious. Loss of hair, constant nausea, etc. The mental effects are not quite as apparent. The two months that I spent undergoing chemotherapy were the hardest two months I have ever made it through. I could literally feel my strength ebb from my body as the weeks passed. I lacked the ability to do much of anything, except occasionally read and watch sportscenter. If it weren't for the compassion of my friends, and the perserverence God gave me, I don't know if I could have made it through. However, He WAS there for me, and will always be here for me, and through this tough experience I have gained strength- the knowledge that I can overcome anything "through Christ who strengthens me" (Phil 4:13). So can you.