In December of 2009 Katelyn Mayberry received news that
forever altered her life.
Mayberry
started to feel sick right around the time of Christmas. When her sickness
started to get worse her parents decided that it was time to take her to the
doctor to see what was wrong. Katelyn’s mom Kellie, was shocked at the news
they received that her daughter had Leukemia.
“I
didn’t know what we were going to do,” Kellie said. “I was afraid that I wasn’t
going to see my oldest daughter grow up.”
Katlelyn
was very active in High school by being a football trainer and was a member in
many different clubs. When she decided to go to college at the University of
Central Oklahoma in Edmond she decided to be in a sorority and live a normal
college life. But when she received the news of her cancer, all of that had to
change.
“I got a new look on life and
I realized that there was going to be a big fight that I would have
to put up. The first thing that I thought of when I understood
what was happening and why I was getting sick is that I wasn't going
to be able to see my friends and hang out with them like I had planned
to,” Katelyn said. “I was also scared that I was going to lose all of my hair.”
A
couple weeks after Katelyn found out she had cancer, her friends decided to
make an orange bracelets in honor of Katelyn. They sold the bracelets for five
dollars each and the money went to help pay the hospital bills. On the
bracelets was a bible verse, Joshua 1:9.
Katelyn used that verse as motivation for the rest of her fight with
cancer.
Leukemia is a cancer that occurs in the blood
in which there is an abnormal increase in white blood cells. It is estimated
that 47,150 men and women will be diagnosed with and 23,540 men and women will
die because of Leukemia in 2012 according to the National Cancer Institute. A
total of 1,638,910 new cancer cases are projected to occur in 2012 according to
the US National Library of Medicine.
Katelyn
found out that she would be able to have a bone marrow transfer if she could
find the right person that matched her type.
Luckily her younger sister Kyleigh was the perfect match. Kyleigh who was a
senior in high school at the time didn’t hesitate making the decision to give
her sister the bone marrow.
“When
I found out that I was a match I knew that it was something that I wanted to do
because I care about my sister so much,” Kyleigh said.
The
bone marrow transplant was successful and April 2012 marks two years cancer
free for Mayberry.
“Now that
I am cancer free, my life is pretty much back to normal,” Katelyn said.
“There are a few things that I am going to have to do for the rest of my
life to help keep myself healthy, but seeing that I got another chance at
life, I know I can deal with those few things.”
