I found this movie on a friends page and thought it was AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! it's not that loong but it great....

www.thesurvivormovie.com

<3 Nicole

Ok ok ok... so i know this post is more than a lil past due but what can i say im a busy busy girl sry Preston...hahaha... ok ok.. well first off b4 i get into my story i want to say how freaking exciting it is to see we have 42 members~!!!!!!!!!! ok.. my story~!

I'm Nicole and I am 22 years old and a 11 year cancer survivor.... In April of 95 i was diaginosed with liver cancer (undiferentiated sarcoma of the liver)..

I was ur typical recently turned 10 year old loving life, about to finish the 3rd grade and playing sports... I am very active and it was not any different when i was 10.. but i had not been feeling weel for a couple of days and i was suppose to play in our first soccer game of the season... but i was in too much pain on my left side... and  so my mom knew something was wrong, especially if i didnt want to play in the game.. throughout the day i got more and more into the fetal position.. it was the only way i was comfy... and so my mom called teh Nurse's hotline at Scottish Rite (250-KIDS) and she explained everythign to them and they said bring me in... With the symptoms that i was having my mom, being a doctors daughter thought that it was my appendix... so we get to Scottish Rite and they do all of these test... and end up admitting me.... so we are still thinking it's my appendix... so we get to the room and im sitting in the bed and the doctor walks in and pulls my mom out of teh room and talkes to her for a bit... so i am just chilling watching the Micky Mouse Club (with Justin, Brittney and Christina) and then my mom and the doc come back in... and i could tell that somethign was wrong b\c my mom was crying.. so they sit down, tunr off MMC and say... "It's not what we thought it was.... Your a little more sicker than we thought... But DONT WORRY EVERYTHING WILL BE OK!!! and then they say "You have LIver Cancer".... until then i had never heard of kids having cancer... and the 1st thing that POP-ed into my mind was My Grandfather... he had just died of liver, lungs, pancreas, voice box, spleen, bone and brain cancer........... and so i Yelled i dont want to die like grandfather.......... and my Doctor... (the most amazing Dr. EVER... Dr. Moncino looked at me as said... how old are you? i said 10, he said how old was ur G\f? mom sid 68...  he said do u smoke? i said no.. he said do u drink? i said no... he said do u eat red meat? i said No and he looked me in my eyese and Said "YOU AR MY PATIENT AND I WILL DO EVERYTHIG I CAN TO GET YOU THROUGH THIS!!!"  and so he gave me his word... soooo 2 days later I had a tumor the size or 2 cantalopes removed along with 60% of my liver and my gallbladder...(but if u have to have cancer in any organ.. the liver is the best b\c it's the only oragn that can regenerate.) I ended up having 1 year of intese Chemo... every friday  and 1 year of Radiation every day......... with the chemo i did loose my hair... and at first i was nervous but instead of waiting for it to fal out i ened up shaving it all off!!!  I had a blast being Bald... i made a lot of money off of it too.. Who doesnt have the urge to rub a bald head? so i charged ppl to rub my head.. the first rub was free and from then on it was 25 cents.. I had such an amazign support system!!! I never wore a hat or a wig...... and the kids at school were amazing!! One of my best guy friends then and still to this day went home and told his mom he wanted to cut his hair and then told her about me being sick and so she cut his hair.... word spread from parent to parent and most of the guys had shaved heads and the girls cut there hair and donated it for wigs... and there were even some parents who did as well~! My cousin still to this day keeps his hair buzzed for me~! 

So after the year of chemo and the year of rads i was told i was in remission.......... and i have been doing well... I do have some side effects b\c of the different chemo's and the area and the amount of rads i got but i am still hear to battle it, speak about it and be a research tool so other wont have to go through teh things i am dealing with.... But b\c of some of teh chemo drugs.. i have deterioration of the muscles... especially the heart... but i have been put on meds so hopefully will prevent me from congested heart failur and having to have a transplant when i get older, and then the other side effect from chemo and rads is i might not be able to have kids... which is a lil sad but i still hjave teh opportunity to adopt... but they said we wont know until i try and so we wont know for quite sometime~~!!! lol give me a few years and i will be able to tell them the answer lol.......

This experience that we have gone through, i would not wish on anybody... but i would not change  it for anything in the world............... I have made some of the BEST FRIENDS IN MY LIFE  through this whole ordeal.......... Yes i have lost some too, but the experienc has made me into the person i am today and has taught me so many things, it has given me so much determination and has given me (us) an outlook on life that no one else has!!! Yes i might have had to grow up faster and deal with things some adults will not have to deal with but i am SOOOOO thakful b\c I gain so much from it!!!!!!!

I attened Camp Sunshine that summer after i was diaignoised........ and it made things a lot easier, and i gained some of the best friendships out of it.......... I dont have to see them everyday, talk to them every week... but if i need them they are there.......... a listening and understanding ear, a person who knows and understands how nervous u get when u go back for check ups...... to a frien who u can go out to dinner with to share the milestones of remission~!!! I TRULY LOVE  all of the AMAZINGLY strong ppl that have been placed in my life, who has that common bond of sharing the ordeal of having cancer and KICKIN IT"S ASS~!!!!!!!!!!!!

The bond that we have is something that cannot be explained... it is an experience, a life changing experience~!!!!!!!!!

                                                     

I just wanted to take a moment to say hello to everyone.... To the new subscribers, welcome.. It is soo awesome to see this site grow!! I am so pleased to be able to get to know you and share experiences with you... I hope that with this site and with each other we can learn from each other, help each other and grow with each other~!

To all the sunshine groupies~! I so excited to keep intouch with yall.. we are all to familiar with the routine of going to camp every summer and then when time allows or we get invited we go to camp events... and that is like the only times we get to see each other besides going to funerals... Im very excited about this site b\c it allows us to possibly set up different get to gethers.. i know that we all cant meet for everythign but it atleast gives us options.. u know..

i hope this post finds everyone in good spirts and having a great day~! Again thanks to Preston for taking on this project and making it go!! I love you!!

I hope this site goes far beyond what we can even imagin...

 

Shane Bernier is a 7 year old boy that was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia at the age of five years old. The only thing that this amazing little boy has requested for his birthday is cards. Not money, or video games, or a remote control car.... but Birthday Cards. His goal is to beat the world record of 350 million cards received.

His Birthday is May 30th

Send Cards to:

Shane Bernier
PO Box 484
Lancaster, Ontario
K0C 1N0
Canada

LOOK AT THIS VIDEO  http://youtube.com/watch?v=cXz6UJL5oDA

This is another site tracking this, he has received over 125000! So far guys!
http://www.shaneswish.com/index.php

 I'm not sure if your schools do relay for life but if so... maybe during it you can set up a table to make cards to send to him... I know that we are @ west Georgia... Just a suggestion