Stories of St. Jude: Madison

BRYAN, Texas (KBTX) - It’s graduation season and hundreds of thousands of students across the country will receive their diplomas and embark on a new journey.

For some, the accomplishment couldn’t have happened without friends and family helping along the way, but for one young adult, finishing school wouldn’t have happened if it weren’t for the kindness of complete strangers.

When former St. Jude patient Madison was nearly halfway done with her sophomore year of college, hours away from her home in Memphis, she realized something was wrong.

“I woke up one morning and I had, like, a nodule feeling. Like I felt like a golf ball under my skin. And I was just getting ready, I was going to go on a hike with my friends and I was getting ready and I like felt it and I was like, that’s not normal,” Madison said.

So like any teen, she took a picture and sent it to her mom who recommended she go to a doctor, her parents began driving to go get their little girl, but before they got there, Madison received the news and called them.

“I was like, ‘I don’t know how to say this, but the doctor said it’s cancer.’”

It was a shock to everyone, including Madison who was trying to process it.

“You see the movies like, does this mean I’m going to die? That was kind of like a mindset.”

Madison went to her home in Memphis, which is also the home of St. Jude, and became a patient a few days later.

After extensive treatment, including chemotherapy and subsequent surgeries, Madison was able to overcome the cancer.

Now a college graduate and a full-time graphic designer, Madison is getting to experience life, thanks to the work of the doctors and researchers at St. Jude.

“I don’t know that I would have been able to go back to college like I’m sitting here today as a first-generation college graduate. And you know, I just bought my own home and I don’t think any of that would’ve been possible if my parents were having to weigh the pros and cons of paying for treatment.”

For just $100 You can have an impact on a child just like Madison and enter to win a brand new house.

Reserve your tickets here.

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