Childhood Cancer Survivor Thriving Into Adulthood
HIGHLANDS RANCH, Colo. (CBS4) – Osteosarcoma is a rare type of bone cancer, usually found in people under the age of 25. It requires some extreme treatments, and often changes a child's life forever. Kyra Roach survived the cancer, and is now thriving with the help of a special scholarship.
"I was diagnosed in July of 2013, when I was 13-years-old," Roach told CBS4.
She went through 50-weeks of chemotherapy, and had a total knee replacement. She missed her entire 8th grade year.
"It was incredibly difficult," Roach explained. "My last day of treatment was May 11th, 2014, and it was the best day."
She celebrated winning her war against cancer, cut she lost a lot in the battles along the way. Roach had to give up her beloved basketball.
"I felt like I lost a big part of myself, so it was trying to figure out who I was post treatment without basketball," she said.
It took a few years to find herself again. She developed a love for hiking, and now she's studying Hotel Restaurant Management at Cornell University.
"I'm really proud of how far I've come since that surgery, and the end of the treatment," she said.
Roach is paying for Cornell with the help of the Northwestern Mutual Childhood Cancer Survivor and Sibling Scholarship Program. She's among 35 students nationwide who received scholarship money.
"I'm just so happy to be at Cornell, and I'm just happy that Northwestern helped me do that," she said.
Now Roach is taking advantage of every opportunity. She hopes to do an internship at the Four Seasons in Aspen, and possibly a semester abroad.
LINK: Northwestern Mutual Childhood Cancer Survivor Scholarship Program
The deadline for applying for the Northwestern Mutual Childhood Cancer Survivor and Sibling Scholarship Program is January 30, 2020 at 3:00 p.m. Central Time.
