Meet Nicole

“When I was 13, I was having a lot of intense side pains. After going to the doctor several times and then misdiagnosing me, we had a ultrasound done.

That is when they found a mass in my liver.

They thought it was a hemangioma and I was scheduled for surgery December 20, 2010. During the surgery, they quickly discovered it was not what they thought it was but rather a malignant tumor the size of a soccer ball! 

They proceeded to remove three-quarters of my liver. I was in the hospital for 4 days of recovery. I started chemo in January and spent the first few months of the year in treatment, undergoing six rounds of chemo. I had to have a port -- and then a port replacement due to a clot.

I finished chemo in April 2011 -- just days before my 14th birthday.”

April 2016 Update: I turn 19 this month but the bigger milestone is this -- I've now been cancer-free for five years!