<\/p>\n
When I was five years old, I was diagnosed with cancer.\u00a0 The doctor told my parents that I had Grade 1 Pilocytic Astrocytoma in my brain stem.\u00a0 I went in for emergency surgery to have the tumor removed, but not all of it has been removed.\u00a0 The surgery left me paralyzed from the neck down.\u00a0 I stayed in the hospital for a couple months with multiple therapy sessions to re-learn everything from walking to eating to talking.\u00a0 Through various techniques such as therapeutic horseback riding, I was able to regain back most of my strength but with some lack in my left arm and leg.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
As a five year old, I didn’t quite understand what was going on, but when I started elementary school, I began to see that I wasn’t really like anyone else.\u00a0 I had found that a lot of kids labeled gym as their favorite class, and that was never the case for me. \u00a0 That was the one thing I always had difficulty with.\u00a0 Simple things like jump rope and running always came as a challenge.\u00a0 Teachers always gave me extra help and put me into special classes.\u00a0 I had been teased by the other kids because I limped when I walked.\u00a0 This lowered my self-esteem and made me feel different from the other kids when all I wanted to be was normal.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
I have never been one to give up easily.\u00a0 Fighting has always come naturally for me, so one day, I just decided that I was going to fight through all the difficulties I was having.\u00a0 I found new ways to cope and adjust to daily life.\u00a0 Soon enough, I tested out of the special classes, and I didn’t need much extra help.\u00a0 I had become independent and able to do many things on my own.\u00a0 Independence brought confidence with it, and soon after, I was in the top of my 4th grade class and even made it into the challenge math and reading classes.\u00a0 Since then, I have always been a diligent worker in school and have received good grades.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
When I was a sophomore in high school, I chose to take a gym class as an elective.\u00a0 I took Outdoor Adventures, a class that involved rock climbing and ropes courses.\u00a0 Going into the class, I knew that I wouldn’t be able to do everything, but that couldn’t stop me from trying.\u00a0 There was one day in particular when we were climbing the outdoor rock wall.\u00a0 I made it halfway up the wall, something that I never thought I could do.\u00a0 That was one of the biggest accomplishments I have ever made.\u00a0 I felt like I had just made it to the top of Mount Everest.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
In my junior year, I took two AP classes thinking that while the workload would be larger than what I was used to, I could handle the pressure.\u00a0 I was correct when I thought that the workload would be larger than what I was used to, but I was also correct when I thought that I could handle the pressure.\u00a0 Those two courses ended up being some of my favorites because of the challenge they provided.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Even now, while the tumor is no longer malignant, I still need some help when doing certain tasks that involve the use of my left side, but for the most part, I get along just fine.\u00a0 With the right mindset, a person really can do anything they set their mind to.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
-Elise Christiansen<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
When I was five years old, I was diagnosed with cancer.\u00a0 The doctor told my parents that I had Grade 1 Pilocytic Astrocytoma in my brain stem.\u00a0 I went in for emergency surgery to have the tumor removed, but not all of it has been removed.\u00a0 The surgery left me paralyzed from the neck […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/faithhopeandlovejesus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/faithhopeandlovejesus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/faithhopeandlovejesus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/faithhopeandlovejesus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/faithhopeandlovejesus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=130"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/faithhopeandlovejesus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":132,"href":"https:\/\/faithhopeandlovejesus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130\/revisions\/132"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/faithhopeandlovejesus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=130"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/faithhopeandlovejesus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=130"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/faithhopeandlovejesus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=130"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}