I was thirteen years old when I was diagnosed with Rhabdomyosarcoma. I woke up one Saturday morning in January with my eye swollen shut. I went to the doctor a couple of days later when it just got bigger. I was finally referred to an ocular plastic surgeon named Dr. Eric Baylin. He told me that it was a soft mass and that we needed to do surgery as soon as possible. On March 8th he went in and cut out as much of the mass as he could get to. He had a biopsy done while I was on the table. He told my parents that I had a malignant tumor. Dr. Baylin then got on the phone trying to find a children's doctor to see me right away.

I was sent to Dr. Louis Rapkin at the Aflac Cancer Center the very next day after surgery. I was then sent to have a consultation with the doctor to put a chemo port in the next week. The month of March was just like a whirl wind. It was different appointment everyday. The bad thing is the drive. It takes us an hour with no traffic in Atlanta to get to Scottish Rite.

I was put on a research protocol with Children's and Emory. I have twenty-four treatments of chemo and twenty to twenty-five treatments of radiation. I am currently on my thirteenth treatment of chemo and I had my seventh radiation treatment today.

I had my second MRI two weeks ago and my third CT scan. When I saw Dr. Rapkin on June 22nd, he told my family and me that there were no residual signs of a tumor nor did I have any scar tissue. I was relieved to hear it was mainly gone although I always knew that I would be fine. I have my faith in God to get me though this.

Dr. Rapkin is AWESOME! He has made me feel comfortable just talking to him. He likes to cut up with me and he really knows his stuff. The second time I saw him, he had shaved his head and asked me how I like his haircut. He told me that I better get used to it because mine was going to look just like his. Karen, the child life specialist, is my Fresh Prince partner. That is my favorite show and she tries to get me to sing the theme song with her each week. Karen also introduced me to the game of Scategories and I love it.

I love baseball but I am not able to play this year. That is probably the worse thing, but there is always next year. I have been golfing with my dad each week that I feel like going. I'm getting pretty good at it. I would like to get a scholarship to Georgia Tech. I have been a straight "A" student all through school. I made the Who's Who honor list two years in a row. I am also a huge Virginia Tech fan, but my mom says that's too far to go to school.