Meet 2021 Scholar Emily
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.
Emily’s Story
Emily, of Locust Grove, Oklahoma, was diagnosed with Wilms Tumor the week before Christmas. She was just four years old.
“The initial shock of my diagnosis was overwhelming for my family because I was an active, seemingly healthy pre-school kid,” says Emily. “But my dad felt a lump on my tummy and my mom took me to a pediatrician. My mom and I were Christmas shopping after my CT scan when the nurse called and told my mom that I had a tumor on my right kidney and I needed to go to the children’s hospital that afternoon.”
Emily’s mom searched high and low for information about childhood cancer, specifically Wilms Tumor. She read journal articles, and she found other families of children with cancer located in Oklahoma through online listserves.
Information and connections served as lifelines for Emily’s family.
“During treatment, the chaplain asked my mom if he could pass on her telephone number to another family whose daughter had been diagnosed with Wilms Tumor,” Emily recalls. “We were able to tell our story and be sort of mentors for this other family. Since then, friends and family have passed our information to others and we’ve been able to share our experiences with everything from buying hats to taking antibiotics to chemo side effects to wish trips.”
Having others to talk to who can give you a kind of roadmap for what you are going to be facing is invaluable.
Emily plans to graduate in May 2025 from Oklahoma State University with a degree in Food Science and a minor in Microbiology.
Emily’s Advocacy Proposal
Emily knows how important it was for her mom to find other Oklahoma families to reach out to during her treatment. For her College Scholars project, she wants to help pave the way for others to forge those critical connections.
Emily has a long-term goal of creating a formalized and mobilized network of Oklahoma children’s cancer families, and hopes to one day start her own nonprofit.
She plans to start smaller by launching social media pages - and eventually a website - dedicated to sharing out Oklahoma-specific childhood cancer information, resources, and ways for families to connect and engage.
Providing opportunities for connection and collaboration between families who’ve experienced childhood cancer offers an unbeatable support system.