Carter

"I just graduated from St. Jude. When I was 3 years old, I was diagnosed with cancer, and for the first year and a half I was treated in Florida and California, but then our family moved to Memphis so I could be at St. Jude. I only had a 30% chance of survival at the time. Even though I was really young, I still remember months of being in the hospital, getting CAT scans, getting shots, and feeling like crap. I look back at pictures of myself when I was that age, and it depresses me. My mom tells me I responded well to treatment most of the time though. She says I was happy and active and that you couldn't have guessed I was being treated for cancer, except for the fact that I was bald. She and my sisters prayed so hard during that time, every single day, just begging God for grace and healing. My dad had always been nurturing and involved, but after I got sick he became even more so. He had to make job changes, my sisters had to switch schools and make new friends, and it was hard on everybody, but it brought us closer as a family.

"When I was 5, the cancer went into remission, but I continued to go back for tests and checkups every year to make sure I was still OK. I'm glad St. Jude is here, but I wish they didn't have to be. They run completely on donations and don't charge the families anything, but they still manage to have the best care for children. They produce miracles. 

"I'm an adult now and they're not holding my hand anymore, but they prepared me well. They gave me resources and taught me how to watch for signs of recurrence. The whole experience has given me perspective. You don't have a lot of time to do something with your life, so you'd better just do it. You'd better make something of it."

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