I won!, a story by my hero

Lily, my nearly 8-year-old, was diagnosed with a brain tumor when she was just 14-months old. It was a dark and devastating time. We had no idea if she would survive and see her second birthday. And we feared if she did survive, she would be left permanently and catastrophically disabled. 

I thought she'd never walk or talk. But then she did it all.

She beat cancer. Lily is my hero. 

Lily is still working hard on her reading and her writing. There are days when we all get discouraged. There are days when I simply want to throw in the towel and call it day. There are days when I just want to rip up her school work and send back a note to her teachers reading: "She is just a kid and she beat cancer. How could you possibly want more out of her?"

But Lily is a hero. She is always willing to give more, even when I am done. 

When asked to write about something she won, Lily wrote this--typed it on her iPad with some help. The words are all Lily. And the win, that is all her too. 

I won!
By Lily

For Alex's Lemonade stand I won a medal because I am a cancer hero. This is because I am selling lemonade for Alex's Lemonade Stand. I think it raises a lot of money for cancer research. I am a cancer hero because I had ependymoma, which is a kind of cancer. I am healthy now because I got the medicine I needed.