Kelly's page
Hi! My name is Kelly. When I was thirteen
I had ovarian cancer. I have designed this web page with the hopes of helping others
who are going through a similar experience as mine. Hopefully after reading my page,
you will come away with a better sense of how such an experience can change your
life.

Me, my Mom & Dad after a show
(I'm in the middle with the flowers.)
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I found out that I had cancer a couple weeks before I was to enter eighth grade when
I was thirteen. That is a bad age for anything like that to happen, because a thirteen
year old's main priority is to be exactly like everyone else their age. This experience
changed my life drasticly. The way I looked changed, first of all. I lost forty pounds
from the chemotherepy and my hair fell out. I wore huge clothes all the time to cover
up how thin I was. Before I had gotten sick, I was very active. I loved to dance
and had been performing with a local ballet company. The effects of chemotherapy
andlosing so much weight made it impossible for me to continue to dance. I couldn't
go to school because I was sick all the time. I never had any energy and I felt so
helpless because I barely had enough strength to take care of myself. Someone always
had to do things for me. It seemed like my life just kind of stopped and until I
got better it wouldn't start again. I had used to spend a lot of time with my friends
before I got sick, but this experience distanced me from them because I was going
through something they really couldn't understand. In eighth grade, appearence was
very important to most people, and let's just say it wasn't my finest hour as far
looks are concerned.(76 pounds, no hair, no eyelashes, ect.) I remember once, one
of my best friends said something about the way I looked that really hurt my feelings.
I've never really been quite able to forgive her for it because it made me realize
how shallow and unaccepting some people really were.

Me, and some friends after the show
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This was a horrible experience while I was going through it, but now, I value it
for the way it changed my life. I learned to treasure what was really important in
life, like my family, and not to worry so much about less important things, like
appearence. As for things that helped me get through this, I would definitly say
my family. All the nights I spent in the hospital, I always had either my mom or
my dad with me all the time. My granparents and aunts, uncles, and cousins came down
to stay with us for awhile too. I don't know how my family would have made it through
this crisis if it hadn't been for them being here. It brought me much closer to my
parents too, because I had to learn to depend on them and trust them. One other thing
that I think is most important while going through a crisis like this is your religion.
Being able to take every worry you have about what will happen to you and give it
to God makes the whole situation less scary.

My friend Jess
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While I was sick, I had not yet become a Christian. I sometimes look back and wonder
how I kept going from day to day not knowing that the Lord was watching over me.
The whole experience would have been much easier if I'd have just found my strength
in Christ instead of trying to find it within myself.</P>
Now, it is almost three years later and I am sixteen. It
seems almost like that whole experience happened in another life. I still love to
dance and sing (most of my pictures are from an oldies show I was in a couple weeks
ago called "Sugar Shack") and I have gotten closer to my friends again.
My parents and I are still close; those couple months in the hospital gave us a special
bond that will last forever. As for me, my hair grew back (obviously) and I feel
that this experience has made me a very strong person. I feel like I could do anything!

Me, Jess & her brother, Dan
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My puppy Otis (isn't he the cutest?)
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