In 2001 I met someone who I never knew was going to change my life forever. On July 3, 2004 my best friend had discovered she had AML Leukemia at only 9 years old. The doctor came in and told her at that point her body was filled with 98% blast cells and she only had about 2 hours to live. After the news they air vacked her into Phoenix Childrens and they put tubes through her chest into her heart to start the chemotherapy right away. They then discovered she was going to make it after they started the chemo. After six long months of the chemo she went into remission. It was such a hard time with all of the side effects especially with losing her hair. But after all of that about a year and a half later she relapsed and they discovered the cancer had come back and she was going to have to go through the terrible chemotherapy again. Due to the severity of the cancer she was going to have to have a bone marrow transplant. She was going to stay at the Ronald McDonald house for many months so she could get the transplant. The hardest thing was that the house was all the way in Tucson and so not many people could visit her and that was hard on all of us.It was through many phone calls and pictures that we could make it through those months. After the transplant and recovery time Kellie has finally made it through it all and has turned into such and amazing person and can inspire so many people with her story! Kellie is now 19 and living a healthy life and going to college!

Signed,
Shelby Stath