From the time I was diagnosed with ALL, my doctors told me I'd never be able to have children. That even with Fertility drugs, I had a very slim chance of being able to conceive or carry full term, because of the cancer and all the chemotherapy. Well in March of 2007 I celebrated 10 years CANCER FREE!!! Then in July of 2007, my boyfriend, Aaron and I found out that we were six weeks pregnant. My OB immediately started taking precautions and running tests to ensure the delivery of a healthy, full-term baby. My pregnancy was wonderful, no morning sickness, no bed rest, my only complaint was the water retention. I am very pleased to say that on March 12, 2008 our daughter, Natalie Mae Furister, was born into this world via emergency C-section. No need to worry, all the distress was on me, my cervix started to swell shut and I became very ill, requiring a C-section  Natalie was doing fine and had no complications. She was 8lbs11oz and 20" long. Natalie is a healthy, beautiful, very happy newborn. GOD works in mysterious and wonderful ways. I may not have understood why he decided I would be diagnosed with Cancer but he just blessed Aaron and I with the greatest gift imagineable. I wanted to share our good news. I will be sure to post pictures soon of our bundles of joy! (o:

Well I figured since a few others have posted their stories, I would post as well. I was 14 years old and loving life. I was a cheerleader, had the best family, the best friends, and we were having the time of our life. It was March 23, 1996 and I was taken to the hospital with appendicitis. Nothing matched up with appendicitis except for the fact that my appendix was about to explode. The ER doctors introduced my parents to a pediatric oncologist, who then ran a series of tests, including a bone marrow aspiration. Three days later, my parents were handed the news, their daughter was being diagnosed with Acute Lymphomic Leukemia. I immediately started undergoing intense chemotherapy sessions and the after affects were horrible. I had long, thick, blonde hair and the first morning I woke up and saw a handful on my hospital bed pillow, I made my dad shave my head. I refused to watch it fall out. Being sick from the chemo was ten times worse than losing my hair.  My family (extended included) rallied around me and refused to let me give up, refused to let me feel sorry for myself, refused to let me forget who I was before this diagnosis. I'm thankful every single day for the wonderful people God and myself call my family. Once I was discharged from the hospital, I was at the outpatient clinic every day, all day, five days a week for intense treatments. On the rare occasions that I had a day off from treatment, my dad took me to school to have lunch with my classmates. My mom and dad pushed me to attend camps for individuals with Cancer. It was at these camps that I made friends that will last a lifetime. Like my friend Chelsea once said, sad but very true, we are the only club that dies off. Me being diagnosed with Cancer taught me a lot about myself. I refused though to let Cancer define who I was and I refused to let people pity me. God chose me. I survived, I learned a great deal about Cancer, about myself, about my family. I now educate others on Cancer awareness, I now live my life to the absolute fullest, I now tell the people I love that I love them AT LEAST once a day.  I now celebrate 10 years in remission from this horrible illness.

I'm really excited about life-linkage.  I got this email from my friend Shannan telling me all about it and so obviously I had to join. It's nice to meet people who know exactly what you went through, to know that you're still scared every time you go for a check up.