Wednesday, November 25

 I wish to go...

 Kerri's story

"I wish to go on a family vacation in the Bahamas"

 
We tell some amazing wish stories but how incredible when one of our wish kids can tell their own story! In her own words, Kerri, now a first-year medical student, takes us on her personal journey!

Summer of 2004, life was everything that I wanted it to be. I had just finished my junior year of high school, looking forward to a summer of fun and the beginning of senior year, which at that point in my life, seemed like the most important yet. A very active teenager, I was a dancer and athlete; playing four varsity sports. My summer began as planned, which naturally included extra volleyball practices and rehearsal time as my dance troupe prepared for our national competition. So, when my knee began to get sore it was not surprising. Being as active as I was, sore knees were nothing new. Avoiding the doctor, I chalked it up to being another case of tendonitis and continued with my summer plans.

After my two-week dance competition, my knee was sore enough to send me to the doctor. My family physician suspected, as I had, a diagnosis of tendonitis. But to be on the safe side, he referred me to an orthopedic surgeon for a second look. After taking some scans, the orthopedic surgeon found a small deposit on the bone. He assumed it was a calcium deposit, but I was sent to another specialist is Chicago. These surgeons agreed with the calcium deposit theory and surgery was scheduled to remove it as soon as possible so that I could recoup before the upcoming volleyball season.

When I woke up from surgery, everything seemed wrong. I was told that they had not removed the deposit because it turned out not to be calcium. After a few weeks of waiting, I was officially diagnosed with an osteosarcoma tumor in my left distal femur, aka bone cancer in my knee.

Needless to say, devastation quickly set in. I spent a day in Chicago learning about what the next year would entail. Five rounds of intensive in-patient chemotherapy, followed by surgery and follow up chemotherapy. I heard one important thing that day: no walking until the end.

All of the sudden I had gone from a dancer and an athlete to a wheelchair bound teenager.

The next few months went by in a blur. I was lucky enough to have a fabulous pediatric oncologist who really took the time to take care of me, my parents, and my younger brother. Every three weeks I had chemo, in between, I went to school as much as possible and worked as hard as I could to keep my life as normal as possible. Over Christmas break, the surgeons in Chicago performed a limb salvage surgery that allowed me the chance to keep my leg!

From then on, I started to see the light at the end of tunnel. Part of that light came from my first encounter with the Make-A-Wish Foundation of Michigan. The social worker who had become friends with my mother suggested that I fill out an application. After the initial application process, it was time to start thinking about my wish. It seemed too good to be true, I could go anywhere? or do anything? You might think that it would be less intimidating for a 17 year old compared to many elementary school children who are a part of the Foundation...wrong. But I very quickly knew that I wanted my wish to be a family vacation, and after some research, the Bahamas became my destination of choice. From that point on, my Make-A-Wish experience was nothing but fabulous!

I made a rather odd request, to have my wish put off for a period of time. Because I was just beginning to learn to walk again, and starting my freshman year of college, I wanted to make sure that my wish happened at a time that would be the most enjoyable. So about a year later, my family and a couple of friends headed off to the Bahamas. Saying that it was a week that I will never forget is an understatement. The memories will last forever. To me and my family, the trip acted as a final celebration party of my illness! Something that could have never been done without Make-A-Wish.

When you have an illness like cancer, it clearly affects your life at that moment but it also has a lasting impact on the rest of your life choices. The care that I received in Chicago saved my life and also helped inspire me to want to make those kinds of differences in other people’s lives.

From the moment I met my pediatric oncologist, I finally knew what I wanted to be when I “grew up.” During my undergraduate career at Grand Valley State University I focused my studies on pre-medical classes. In order to continue to give back, I became a Make-A-Wish volunteer. I graduated 4 years later with a bachelors of science degree in biomedical sciences in April of 2009. And now I have just begun the first step in the next part of my education. I am a first year medical student in the College of Human Medicine at Michigan State University.

My goals have not changed, and I take advantage of any opportunity I have to interact with children who are suffering with illness. Medical school is the hardest thing that I have ever done, but also the absolute best opportunity that I have been given. The next few years will be a huge challenge, but I am looking forward to it. Just one more step leading to the ultimate goal of becoming the kind of physician that every child deserves.