Spch 1A: Memorable Experience Speech January 6, 2010
Hi everyone, my name is Michelle Ford. Today, I am going to be sharing with you about when I was diagnosed with a brain tumor and how in an instant, life as I knew it had changed forever. And how I have been learning to adapt to this different life I have been given.
So many times when a person tries something new someone will say, "There's a first time for everything." But a few years ago I learned that there's a last time for everything, as well. In 2005, I was diagnosed with a benign brain tumor behind my right ear. Surgery was needed, but my mom wanted to try something else before it was completely necessary. And although it didn't work, I will be forever grateful to my mom for buying me extra time and lasting memories.
In the months leading up to my surgery everything had been perfect. In fact, it had all been too perfect. I was picked to be captain of my high school soccer team and dance team. My rocky relationships with my mom and with my brother were somewhat being pieced back together. Even though I was in major pain, I was able to dance in my dance team's showcase that we put on for the city every year. And in the week leading up to my surgery I went to Hawaii with my dad and best friend where we went swimming, ATVing, horseback riding along cliffs overlooking the ocean, and took a helicopter ride all over the island and saw the most beautiful double-rainbow that had formed all the way around the helicopter.
When I got back home, my surgery was just a couple days away, and I started to reflect on everything that had happened to me leading up to that moment. And I started to see how perfect everything had been. And at that moment, I thought I wasn't going to make it through the surgery. I thought I was going to die.
I was wrong, as you can all see me standing here today, but I was right about the perfectness of the previous months. And it was perfect because I am never going to be able to do any of those things ever again. My noncarcinogenic brain tumor that was supposed to take 4 hours to remove, turned out to be malignant, and my doctor's finished the surgery after 14 hours, leaving my parents stunned in the waiting room. You see, my brain tumor was a blood tumor that was feeding over 30 other tumors throughout my body. I am the only person to have this cancer today. And the ONE surgery I was supposed to have has turned into 13 different surgeries since 2006.
The life I knew before, the life where everything came easy to me, the life where I didn't have to work hard to be great at something is now not so easy anymore. Everything I loved doing, everything that made me who I was, are things that I can no longer do. And for 4 years now I have been trying to figure out just who I am without the things I used to love doing. And I'm still trying to figure that out today.
But if there are two things that I have learned through all of this is one, God has my back, in that He made that time in my life perfect for this very reason. And two, to live life everyday with no regrets and without complaining, which is still a struggle to live by. Because next time I may not get to say good-bye to the people I love the most, or do something I so desperately wanted to do before it was too late.
All I know, as of right now, I still have a long future ahead of me and I'm not going to let cancer bring me down. Because one day I will be great again, and everyone will know my name.
My name is Michelle Ford, I have cancer, cancer doesn't have me.
So many times when a person tries something new someone will say, "There's a first time for everything." But a few years ago I learned that there's a last time for everything, as well. In 2005, I was diagnosed with a benign brain tumor behind my right ear. Surgery was needed, but my mom wanted to try something else before it was completely necessary. And although it didn't work, I will be forever grateful to my mom for buying me extra time and lasting memories.
In the months leading up to my surgery everything had been perfect. In fact, it had all been too perfect. I was picked to be captain of my high school soccer team and dance team. My rocky relationships with my mom and with my brother were somewhat being pieced back together. Even though I was in major pain, I was able to dance in my dance team's showcase that we put on for the city every year. And in the week leading up to my surgery I went to Hawaii with my dad and best friend where we went swimming, ATVing, horseback riding along cliffs overlooking the ocean, and took a helicopter ride all over the island and saw the most beautiful double-rainbow that had formed all the way around the helicopter.
When I got back home, my surgery was just a couple days away, and I started to reflect on everything that had happened to me leading up to that moment. And I started to see how perfect everything had been. And at that moment, I thought I wasn't going to make it through the surgery. I thought I was going to die.
I was wrong, as you can all see me standing here today, but I was right about the perfectness of the previous months. And it was perfect because I am never going to be able to do any of those things ever again. My noncarcinogenic brain tumor that was supposed to take 4 hours to remove, turned out to be malignant, and my doctor's finished the surgery after 14 hours, leaving my parents stunned in the waiting room. You see, my brain tumor was a blood tumor that was feeding over 30 other tumors throughout my body. I am the only person to have this cancer today. And the ONE surgery I was supposed to have has turned into 13 different surgeries since 2006.
The life I knew before, the life where everything came easy to me, the life where I didn't have to work hard to be great at something is now not so easy anymore. Everything I loved doing, everything that made me who I was, are things that I can no longer do. And for 4 years now I have been trying to figure out just who I am without the things I used to love doing. And I'm still trying to figure that out today.
But if there are two things that I have learned through all of this is one, God has my back, in that He made that time in my life perfect for this very reason. And two, to live life everyday with no regrets and without complaining, which is still a struggle to live by. Because next time I may not get to say good-bye to the people I love the most, or do something I so desperately wanted to do before it was too late.
All I know, as of right now, I still have a long future ahead of me and I'm not going to let cancer bring me down. Because one day I will be great again, and everyone will know my name.
My name is Michelle Ford, I have cancer, cancer doesn't have me.