Laughin’ in Cancer’s Face

“On Labor Day weekend in 2002, my parents took me, at age 3.5 years old, to the Children’s Hospital with what they thought was a virus.

The doctors told my parents they were concerned with my low white blood cell count. Within 24 hours, they were diagnosing me with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL). For two weeks I stayed in the hospital, but at the end of those two weeks I returned home to friends and family. For the next nine months, my life consisted of chemotherapy, blood count tests, spinal taps and occasional overnight stays at Children’s.

Dr. Camitta, my oncologist, was the main doctor who helped my parents and I through it all. He and all the caring nurses gave me the best possible care. Whether it was sitting in my bed, playing cards or watching my magic tricks, they kept a smile on my face.

My mom has recently described to me the scare behind me receiving my first blood transfusion. According to her, one second I was sleeping peacefully in my bed, the next, my whole body and bed was shaking. I was seizing. It turns out, my body was rejecting the blood.

As you can tell, today I am a cancer-surviving junior here at Homestead High School. I’ve been in remission for around 12 years. I’m very open when my peers ask me questions on this since I was diagnosed so young.

I volunteer in a variety of places, such as concessions at sporting events, or helping out in basketball camps or even managing the girls varsity basketball team. Most of my volunteering is focused around sports and Relay for Life . My life has been affected by cancer in so many ways other than my diagnosis. Multiple relatives of mine have had cancer too. Some have survived and some have died. So, I work hard to better help others going through this terrible experience.” (Emma Contardi, junior)