Alexa's Prayer

In 2005, my mother was diagnosed with tongue cancer. I was in second grade that year. No reason, no “bad” habits, nothing, she just happened to have cancer. Since then it has been a constant battle. Her cancer came back three times, and she has had to face numerous rounds of chemo and radiation; but she kept on fighting. Not only did she go through ten plus surgeries back-to-back, but she also lost her ability to eat. She was overly radiated which in turn burned and scarred her esophagus, but it didn't stop there. Because of the radiation, the bone in my mother's jaw began to die which resulted in having to remove her entire jaw and putting in plates. However, our family got through it. We were able to overcome my mother not eating for eight years when she received a peg tube, we adjusted to her slurred speech when more than half of her tongue was cut off, and we have been able to overcome the frustrations of cancer-- However, it has come back.

Now, after over eight years of being cancer free my mother was diagnosed for a fourth time with squamous cell carcinoma of the tongue. This news turned us inside out. We truly believed that we were done fighting, with the surgeries, with the constant worrying if my mother is going to survive this, but we aren't. 

Thankfully though, we have a God bigger then this. We have a God who is good, kind, and loving who will and is getting our family through this, and just like He got us through the last three diagnoses, He will get us out of this fourth one. Because He cares, and He is using this for a greater good that we cannot understand right now through the tears, the sadness, and overwhelming moments, but He does, and in that I can rejoice.

Now, for my reason for this gofundme page. As you can imagine, cancer is very expensive, and when my mother was first diagnosed we had to use everything. My mother was not able to put any money away for my college fund. Thankfully though, through hard work and good grades I have received some limited scholarships.

My dream is to attend Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia where I want to major in criminal justice with a minor in psychology. You see, God has given me a passion to work with sex trafficking victims, and I want to use my degree to help break the cycle of human trafficking. These are my dreams, and I hope that you will prayerfully consider helping to make them a reality. I can assure you that your gift no matter how big or small will be used strictly for educational expenses towards my degree. 

I will keep a ledger and receipts for everything I spend, and at anytime if you want to see a record of my use of this gofundme donation, I would be more then happy to make available to you a record of my financial accountability. 

Thank you so much for reading my story, and I hope for you to be a part of it.

Blessings,
Alexa Marie Cahal