Meet Dahlia: 2023 Stewart Scholar

Our College Scholars receive a financial scholarship to help with academic expenses, and each scholar commits to undertaking a volunteer project of their choosing related to childhood cancer advocacy, with support and mentorship from the Children's Cancer Cause team.

The Stewart Scholarship is our top academic scholarship award, presented to a survivor who demonstrates exceptional potential to make a positive difference in the world. It is named in honor of John and Nancy Stewart, founders of our Stewart Initiative for Childhood Cancer Survivors.

Dahlia’s Story

Dahlia, a native of Chevy Chase, Maryland, was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML) during her senior year of high school. “My whole world instantly crumbled,” she told us. “How would I finish my last semester and graduate? Would I be able to go to college in the fall?”

Dahlia is the definition of high-achieving. During the pandemic, she founded a volunteer club that delivered baked goods to the local food bank. She was president of the high school Pre-Med Club, captain of the Varsity Tennis Team, and interned at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. She graduated with a 4.6 GPA despite spending most of the last semester in the hospital undergoing treatment.

Dahlia would spend a total of eleven months in treatment at the hospital and suffered grueling side effects like intestinal bleeding, multiple lung issues including a collapsed lung, and bleeding inside of her eyes that caused her to go blind for the last six months of treatment. She’s just undergone two eye surgeries to restore her vision.

“While my friends and family were crucial to getting me through this all, I have to credit my superhero nurses, who got me through the endless days of the in-patient world,” Dahlia wrote in her application. “In addition to tending to every inch of my broken-down body, they actually managed to keep me sane with mocktail parties, pranks, walks in the tiny oncology ward hallway, making TikToks, a high school graduation ceremony, playing card games, endless chatting and great senses of humor.”

Dahlia is studying biology at Wesleyan University in Connecticut.

Dahlia’s Advocacy Project

Because Dahlia knows firsthand how isolating cancer treatment can be for a teenager, she wants to help others going through a similar experience. “Having the love and daily support of a few good friends was one of the greatest factors that helped me survive the long and brutal experience of treatment,” Dahlia recalls. “But most teens (often adults too, I hear) don't know how to provide that support to a friend who's been diagnosed. Many are so afraid of saying or doing the wrong thing that they do nothing at all. Others just can't face their own fears or discomfort with illness. No one has taught them how to navigate such difficult and sad circumstances.”

For her volunteer project, Dahlia is planning to produce a three-part podcast series aimed at helping teens understand how to be most supportive to a friend with cancer. She’ll interview other teen survivors to discuss what was most helpful or hurtful to hear from friends after diagnosis and to recall some of the ways that peers helped lift their spirits during treatment and showed acts of true kindness and friendship. The final episode will touch on how teens can be “super allies” in the fight against childhood and adolescent cancer by engaging in volunteerism and advocacy efforts.

We will share Dahlia’s podcast episodes here when they are ready!