Blog #6 2/18/09

For the hope blog I wanted to write about a 25 year old women by the name of Emily Hoskins. I read about her inspiring story of dealing with spinal cancer and paralysis from the hips down in this online article titled, Neuroblastoma Survivor a Champion with a Heart of Gold. From the early age of 3 days, she was diagnosed with Neuroblastoma, a cancer of the spinal cord. Luckily, since she started chemo at the age of 3 days, by the age of 2 she was able to walk with walking braces. In her high school years, she fell in love with basketball even though she was not very good. Eventually, with determination and practice, she made the U of Illinois team and, from there, she went to the 2004 Athens olympics. Her team won the gold. In addition, her team won the gold in the recent Beijing Olympics. In my opinion, her story is one of complete dedication and hope for the future. She never did give up hope on her dreams of becoming an olympic athlete even though she was half-paralyzed. This, and all of her hard work paid off, which is how she accomplished all she has in her lifetime. Furthermore, her hope and determination gave her an outstanding positive attitude that gave the people around her inspiration that they could do anything they wanted to do. This especially made her parents proud of her. If I were in her place I don't know if I could have been as brave or determined as she was. Also, I don't know if I could have kept my hope up all the way through to the present like Emily did because it just seems as if there would be nothing to look forward to. But, she made the most of her situation which is why her story truly inspires me, and, gives inspiration to everyone else in the world. After all, as Emily says, "You can do anything- if you have the drive and desire. Never give up hope. Whether it's sports or music or school, just keep working hard, and you can never tell what doors are going to open for you."