Alex Kicklighter

I have been truly blessed with a second chance at life and I never take a single day for granted. When I was five and a half years old I was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL). Everything happened so fast and I was so young I didn't know what to think. I was so terrified and to make matters worse my parents weren't in the room to comfort me. There is one memory that I can never seem to forget, and it is sitting in Exam Room 3 of the Lee Memorial Hospital with nurses surrounding me trying to get IVs into my arm. The next three years of chemotherapy were life changing. Despite being so young I knew that something was seriously wrong because my parents wouldn't let me play sports and hang out with my friends on the playground how they had before. Thanks to the help of the great doctors, and the support of my family I am healthy and have been cancer free for eleven years now. One of the most influential moments of this period in my life was when I had my final check and Dr. Salmon came into the room sat me down and told me that "You have a second chance at life that not every other person has. Make wise decisions, use your brain wisely, and accomplish something that makes you proud." To this day those words push me towards my goals.