Help Ghazal Beat Cancer

My story started back in 2002 when I was first diagnosed with stage 4 Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. I was a confused 5-year-old kid that had no clue what Hodgkin’s Lymphoma meant. Usually as a five-year-old child you tend to not know much about the real world, but I was different. Missing out on playing outside with the other kids or not being able to start off the school year with my friends because I was in and out of the hospital either for chemotherapy treatment or high fevers, made me realize that I would never be “normal”. I knew I was never going to be the same as everyone else.

Being a cancer survivor made me sure that I could succeed and survive anything that’s thrown my way. Who knew something so big and so serious like cancer could have such a huge impact on a little child’s life. For 15 years I have been a survivor. I had thought that I was done that nothing else could happen to me as if I was a superhero. Unfortunately, I was wrong.

I am now a 21-year-old young adult who got diagnosed with stage 3 Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma recently in December. You would think that after 15 years nothing so tragic can ever reoccur and for that reason this news hit me pretty hard. Being a 21 years old cancer patient is worlds different from being a little 5-year-old. My life was exactly where I wanted it to be; I was a part time employee at LA Fitness and a full time student at Cal State University of Fullerton that was getting ready to marry the love of my life by the end of 2017. I had a solid planned-out life and quite honestly I loved it. Now that I am a young adult I can understand everything better.

I am taking all of this as a life lesson; when you think life has knocked you down one time doesn’t mean it can’t knock you right back down; the key is to keep in mind that you can always get back up and fight back.  My story defines me to be the strong and independent woman I am today. Because of what I went through at a young age and what I am going through today, I know the value of life now much better than many others would.

[Ghazal's sister and mother, Rana and Shadi Sherkat, will be using the funds raised by this campaign to assist in paying for Ghazal's medical expenses as she continues her fight against cancer. Thank you to everyone who has supported!]