Claremont McKenna

Sometimes, all the signs point in one direction and it seems to be Claremont McKenna. Adrienne received her acceptance on Friday along with notification that she has been awarded the McKenna Achievement Scholarship. Even with that scholarship and the National Merit scholarship, a private school education is very expensive so we are scrambling to find the funds. Adrienne has worked so hard and has been through so much to achieve this and we all want her to have the best. We are keeping our fingers crossed that her scans last week show that she is in remission so she can go away to school. We'll know tomorrow.

I thought you might like to read Adrienne's main college essay written to the prompt: "Evaluate a significant experience, achievement, risk you have taken, or ethical dilemma you have faced and its impact on you."

“We wanted you to get some exercise. We didn’t mean you should train for a marathon!” So said my nurse practitioner when I told her I had signed up with Team In Training to walk the Honolulu marathon. I’ve always been motivated to do the best I can at everything I take on, and Team In Training gave me the perfect opportunity to stay active while supporting a cause about which I’m passionate. I’ve had two bone marrow transplants for Hodgkin’s Disease during high school. My experience has made me think about my life in a way I never thought about before, and I’m trying to improve other patients’ lives.

My involvement with The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, especially the research I help fund, has a direct impact on people’s lives. The fundraising is critical because people are still dying from blood-related cancers. My own grandfather suffered a painful death at the age of sixty-six to Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, and some of my young friends died because the treatments currently in use didn’t stop their diseases from growing. The treatments that exist today often cure the cancer but kill people later. I must endure long-term effects from my own cancer treatment, and I know that the funds I raise and resulting research will help others avoid what I’ve been through.

I know what it’s like to need help and not get it. After lunch at school recently, a mentally disabled girl was stranded on some stairs in the stampede of students rushing to their classes. Instead of ignoring her like the others did, I stopped and helped her up. A friend who was with me said she admired me and confessed that she would not have stopped if I hadn’t. I’ve been in that situation, and I appreciated it when someone helped me.

I understand how it feels to have people stare because you look different, or to shy away because they think they might catch something. My mom often tells the story, “Days after Adrienne’s first transplant, we were looking at the new babies through a window to the nursery. Adrienne was wearing her mask to protect her from infection. A young mother looked at her in horror and rushed away, covering her baby because she thought he might catch something when the actual purpose of the mask was to protect Adrienne.” Because of instances like this one, I always stop to think about other people’s feelings. I now understand and have compassion for people and the challenges they face.

Cancer doesn’t define me as a person but it has certainly affected my view of the world, the role I’ve chosen to help others, and the way I interact with others. I’m grateful that I’m healthy and don’t need help anymore. Now I can help others in a way I could not have foreseen.