Bella Soul

Hello all! My name is Katie Gross. I am going into my senior year at UW-Oshkosh majoring in Chemistry with a Biomolecular Science Emphasis. My ultimate goal is to go on to medical school to become a pediatrician and possibly specialize in oncology. My life experiences are what have driven this goal of mine, and that is what I am here to talk to you about.

At age 16, I was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, which is a cancer of the lymphatic system. Basically, what happens is cells in the lymphatic system grow abnormally and spread. As the disease progresses, your body’s ability to fight infection is severely compromised. I guess you could say I got pretty “lucky”. I was itching my neck one day, felt a lump, got freaked out, and went to the doctor. A few days later, I was diagnosed with cancer. From there my parents and I proceeded down to Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin in Milwaukee where they performed numerous tests to see how far along the cancer was. The so-called “lucky” part was that we caught it between stage 1 and stage 2. But nevertheless, I still had cancer.

As one can imagine, I was terrified. I was 16, had just gotten my driver’s license, and was only a sophomore in high school. I wasn’t supposed to have cancer, I was too young for that. As much as I wanted everything to be just a dream, I knew that it wasn’t, and I was ready to face my challenge head on. All my life I had never been a quitter, and I certainly wasn’t going to stop now.

Shortly after being diagnosed and meeting with the doctors, I had surgery to put my port in and was ready to begin my chemotherapy. Every other Tuesday, my parents and I would make the trip down to Children’s Hospital so that I could get pumped full of chemo and come home feeling miserable. On top of that I had to take a multitude of pills everyday which wasn’t easy to keep straight. After about 4 treatments of chemotherapy, it was time to start radiation. This is where things started to go downhill for me. I had to have radiation every day for 2 weeks straight, and since it was focused on my neck and chest it made my throat extremely raw to the point where I had hard time swallowing water. When I started back up on chemo, it seemed like everything was just intensified. I got sick a lot more, my hair started to fall out, I started putting on more weight, and I had to wear nose plugs walking into the hospital, because I couldn’t stand the smell of it. As much as I hated everything, I knew I had to push through because this was the only way I was going to get better. After 4 short months of treatment that felt like an eternity, I was finally cancer free. Yet another “lucky” aspect of my story.

Being diagnosed with cancer at a young age, or any age for that matter, isn’t an easy road to travel down, but I wasn’t going to let it chance who I was. Throughout all of my treatments I never missed a basketball or softball game, and even played on days that I had received chemotherapy just a few hours earlier. With the help of my amazing friends and family I was able to continue to get good grades in school and do pretty much anything that I set my mind to.

This past April was my 5 year remission mark, and honestly I wouldn’t change my experiences for anything. As much as cancer sucks it really gave me a different outlook on life, one that I had never had before. It taught me that life is fragile, and it can be gone before you know it. If you want to do something, do it. If you love someone, tell them. Don’t wait for tomorrow, because tomorrow isn’t guaranteed. And as many of us that have shared our story on Bella Soul can attest for, everyone is fighting a battle that you know nothing about, so be kind, always. I want to thank the Bella Soul Organization for giving me the opportunity to share my story, and I hope it has been some help to others out there facing similar challenges. Just remember that God gives his toughest battles to his strongest warriors. You got this!