In this GRWM, I’m sharing the story of how I found out I had cancer when I was 18—because it was a summer that completely flipped my life upside down. It was right after I graduated high school, after I’d been volunteering at foster camps and summer camps for my church, and I started noticing symptoms I couldn’t ignore: a dry cough, my arm being swollen all the time, and feeling unbelievably tired. What really pushed me to go in was finding a lump under my arm, and my dad was like, “Okay, you need to get that checked out.” I ended up in the ER, got a chest X-ray, and that’s when they found a 13 cm mass on the left side of my chest. I had to put everything on pause—college, plans, all of it—and I got transferred to a bigger hospital in Dallas to start tests and treatment right away because my cancer was fast-growing. Chemo was genuinely the worst thing I’ve ever had to do: it drained all my energy, I lost all my hair, and it was so isolating and lonely at times. After six months of treatment, I was officially announced in remission (I got my clear scan results just days before my birthday). I truly believe the Lord answered so many prayers and taught me so much through that season, and even though it’s not a huge part of my daily life now, I still want to advocate for other young cancer patients—because going through something like that at 18 is deeply traumatic. I’m grateful to say I’ve been happy and healthy for almost four years now.