But this dream. It wouldn’t stop pushing itself to the front of my mind. After seeking a more “me” position in my place of employment and being denied the opportunity to advance, I decided it was time to get out of going nowhere.

The story behind my face is so much more than a word or a topic, it’s a series of battles and storms. When I was first approached to do this, I thought hard about what my story represented. Right from the beginning I was a fighter. I was born with a hole in my heart and back then there was so much unknown about this type of congenital defect, there were many surgeries throughout my childhood to repair damage. I spent much of my childhood sick, in hospitals or with restricted activities. My parents were very young, kids themselves, eventually my mom left us. She didn’t want to be a mother, my brother had come along by then, leaving my dad to be a very young single parent. His parents helped us greatly, my grandparents and my dad are such loving and compassionate people. I wouldn’t be here today, without them.

My story?  Like so many others, it involves cancer.  It begins thirty years ago, which means I’ve lived longer with cancer than without. It’s not been an easy journey.  

When I tried to get myself back on the interstate the truck ended up flipping three and a half times. The driver's side door came open during this and my left leg was outside of the vehicle.

“Anyone can give up; It’s the easiest thing in the world to do. But to hold it together when everyone would expect you to fall apart, that’s true strength.” – Chris Bradford

There are two significant life-altering events that have happened in my twenty-five years of living that I credit for making me who I am. It is because of those situations that I have been able to learn how to become a warrior, to stand up for what I believe in, and to be proud of my past.

I am a sexual assault survivor.