Our goal is to raise money to fund childhood cancer research, to raise awareness of childhood cancer, and to inspire teens & children who are surviving all kinds of cancer. From Bibi, "How can you explain something to someone that you don't even understand yourself? That is exactly what I ask myself a million times everyday. I feel as if I’m living a nightmare & other days I knew everything was going to be okay. I would not be the person I am today without undergoing this beast. There isn’t a day that goes by that I do not think about cancer. In December of 2015 I had a first time seizure during school, right in the beginning of my senior year of high school. I was rushed to hospital to run millions of tests. After being a month in the hospital, I ran 2 brain CTs, an EEG, 3 brain MRIs, a whole spin MRI, heart MRI, abdominal MRI, pelvis MRI, 2 PET scans, 2 lumbar punctures, & gallons of blood taken out of me. The doctors were unable to find the cause of the shadows they found in my brain. The next step was to dive into my brain to get a better visual of what these “shadows” were. My neurosurgeon performed an open, right temporal craniotomy biopsy. 7 inches of 45 staples & 3 stitches later I was hanging in there & prayed for nothing but good results. I was then diagnosed with stage three multifocal (more than one tumor) anaplastic (malignant) astrocytoma(glioma). My specific form of brain cancer is extremely rare & most commonly seen in people ages 30-50 years old, I’m only 18. My tumors require aggressive treatment & it is a long/gruesome battle. In February of 2016, it was time to pack up my life in Miami, Florida & move to Baltimore, Maryland for 8 weeks- where I began my treatment with Johns Hopkins Memorial Hospital. I started chemotherapy & radiation that prevented my tumors from growing & spreading. Treatment was extremely brutal. I lost some of my hair, felt fatigue/nauseous, & along with many other horrible side effects. However, going in with a positive mindset everyday definitely made an impact on how I was able to manage the whole situation. One thing I would say to another cancer patient & their family is, my favorite quote from Winnie the Pooh, “There is something you must always remember: you are braver than you believe, smarter than you think, and stronger than you seem,”—because only the bravest & strongest of warriors were given this battle. Sometimes it takes sadness to know happiness, noise to appreciate silence, & absence to value presence. Sometimes, we need to be hurt in order to grow. We must lose in order to gain. Sometimes, some lessons are learned best through pain. Always remember to, “fight like a kid”!!
