Please scroll to read all our recipients beautiful stories!!
Hannah Norton
In her own words, Hannah brings us through her journey below. She may only be 20 years old, but she is a force to be reckoned with and we are so honored to be working with her and her family!
My name is Hannah. I was born in Indiana but claim East Tennessee as the place that raised me. I love the mountains and their calming beauty. I have a dog named Mason who I adopted last year, and he is the most precious dog I’ve ever met. I have worked at Chick-fil-a since I was 14. I love my job. I love what we stand for and the people I work with. I also love school. I currently have my associates in psychology but wish to continue school until I have my doctorate in genetics. I want to become a geneticist and eventually teach genetics as a professor. I think one of the best ways to see God’s work in creation is to look at your own DNA. I’m known for my work ethic, honesty, and love for investing in people.
I barely remember the day I was diagnosed. Leading up to my diagnosis, I experienced abdominal bloating, shallow breathing, and extreme fatigue. We thought it fit the symptoms of constipation perfectly. I thought at most it would last a couple weeks. Obviously, that was not the case. When the doctors came in my room to inform me of the large mass under my heart, my abdomen full of fluid, and an enlarged ovary, I remember feeling numb. I was in shock, I had so many questions, and I wanted to be left alone to attempt to process. The doctors weren’t completely sure what was going on, but we all knew it wasn’t good. The options were either lymphoma or ovarian cancer, the latter being the worst diagnosis I could receive. During this time of tests, biopsies, and unknowns, my kidneys started failing and it almost felt like my body was giving up. But I made it by the grace of God and after multiple tests, it was determined I had Burkitt’s Lymphoma, the most aggressive B-cell lymphoma. I am an aggressive person, so I like to say my cancer matches my personality. In so many ways this diagnosis was a blessing. Burkitt’s responds well to chemo and has one of the highest cure rates. It was a weird feeling to be thankful for a cancer diagnosis but so many good things have happened because of this horrible cancer. I like to tell people that I am thriving and living my best life even with cancer.
I have always been a strong person. When my brother passed away my freshman year of high school, I didn’t quite understand what people meant by telling me to lean on God. I did my best to rely only on myself and my family. I was proud of how well I could handle almost anything physical or mental but now see how immature my faith remained because of my unwillingness to lean on Him. I never understood why people would rely on God and not their own strength. But now I understand my own strength isn’t sufficient but His always is. Not only is His strength always present, but His provision is as well. Before I was diagnosed, a couple different situations in my life got delayed or didn’t play out the way I thought it should. At the time I found it extremely disappointing but looking back I am able to see how God was preparing me for what was ahead. Even as this season of my life progresses, He has provided me with people who have shown me unconditional love and support. I will never doubt that I serve a God who loves and provides and through all things are possible.
Mary Melendez de Valdivia
Mary Valdivia had always wanted things to be as normal as possible, so during her final chemotherapy treatment on Oct. 4, when her doctor told her she could finally attend her children's soccer games, Valdivia chuckled.
She'd been diagnosed with T-cell lymphoma in late May, underwent chemotherapy treatment from June through October and had been instructed to not expose herself and stay inside as much as possible.
Her doctor, however, didn't know Valdivia, 44, had been to all of her daughter's soccer games this season, including away games as far away as Chattanooga. She'd usually sit in the back of the bleachers with her husband, Jesus, 45, so she'd limit her risk of exposure to bacteria. She rarely shook people's hands. She always carried hand sanitizer in her purse.
She wanted her life to be as normal as possible, especially for Alexa, because she remembered how her daughter had reacted, and how she behaved over the summer, when she was diagnosed. The isolation, the crying and the times she never ate.
One day in April 2019, Valdivia went to her doctor after noticing she had several tiny lumps around her neck. The doctor said it was likely allergies and gave her allergy medication. Three weeks later, she went to the emergency room after she woke up with more lumps.
She looked like a boxer, Valdivia remembered, because of how swollen her neck was.
A biopsy was performed a few days later. The cancer diagnosis came a few weeks after that.
"When you hear the word, 'cancer,' you get scared," said Valdivia, whose scars from the biopsy are visible on her neck. "Alexa didn't want to talk much about it at the beginning. She didn't want to think of cancer."
Alexa had grown up with her mom always being there: always taking her to school and picking her up, always at her soccer games. Always healthy. Always smiling.
But as spring turned to summer, Alexa saw her mom go through things she'd never endured. She saw her start chemotherapy at Tennessee Cancer Center, where she went for chemotherapy treatments. She saw her in bed more often, resting and napping because the first few treatments in June and July made her tired. She saw her mom lose her hair.
"You're very strong, Mom," Alexa liked to remind her as they lay in bed together, both of them trying to think and talk about anything other than cancer.
Valdivia, meanwhile, saw things from Alexa she'd never seen. Alexa locking herself in her room, crying by herself. She rarely ate and hardly spoke. She didn't attend her club soccer team's games or practices.
"All I wanted to do was stay with her, take care of her, and make sure she was OK and had everything she needed," Alexa said.
When July came and conditioning and practices were about to start for Hardin Valley, Valdivia asked her daughter for a favor.
"All my mom would say was she wanted me to keep playing for her, to keep playing for her," Alexa said.
Mary has remained incredibly strong and in December 2019 she was able to say, “My last studied came out that I am free of cancer cells. I am more grateful and blessed and loved by our lord Jesus. As difficult as it is a case, you never have to lose faith and the desire to keep fighting.”
Tue Nguyen
On November 7 of 2019, Tue Nguyen went to the hospital with unexplained symptoms that eventually led to an ambiguous cancer diagnosis. She was told she had 6 masses in her head, but that the origin was unclear, which made the treatment possibilities unclear and left her family worried and confused.One week later, the family was waiting for results from the biopsy to hopefully help explain her blurred vision, lapses in cognitive function, as well as sleepiness. But Tue's focus was always on her children. Despite difficulties sleeping in the hospital, her concerns were always on someone else. She offered her son, Hop, her own blanket to make sure he was warm enough at night.The devastating news of a malignant CNS lymphoma came on November 15th, however, the family remained positive as they were told it was "one of the better ones to be diagnosed with." A treatment plan was made and the family banded together to support the mother who had fought to bring them to the United States from Vietnam in 1980.Chemo began on November 18.By 3:30am the next morning, Tue was experiencing bleeding in her brain as the chemo took its toll on her body.But, a few days later, Tue's health seemed to improve and she came home on November 22nd. Although not always coherent, she was more talkative and wanted to cook for her family, even making movements like she was cooking.On November 27, Tue and her family learned that the main tumor in her brain was shrinking, a good response to the chemo. The family was hopeful that Tue would recover further.However, at 3:37am on December 27, 2019, Tue lost her battle to brain cancer.Tue had always been a generous soul and often put her family before herself. She was known to say, "You get to give, not give to get." Her deep compassion for others came to her as naturally as breathing. She used her money and influence in Vietnam to help her community, buying food and medicine to help the poor and homeless.
Rachel Janous
I've struggled to even write her story as so many people much more eloquent than I have supported her and written about her, including her husband. Rachel's journey has been a long one already, but she is a mama to three adorable little kiddos and needs all the fight we can muster behind this family.
For most of 2018, Rachel fought breast cancer and it seemed that the Janous family could close that chapter and move on, though battle weary. However, in August of 2019, Rachel was back in the emergency room with intense back pain.
Now, y'all, I will tell you: the one word I have learned that describes Rachel and her husband, Brandon, is STUBBORN. Or, possibly, STRONG. Rachel had even waited until the end of her work day to go to the ER.
The family would need the strength of Rachel and Brandon because a new fight was upon them. Rachel was diagnosed with triple negative, aggressive metastatic breast cancer. The cancer had changed and moved into her bones over the past few months. Radiation treatment plans were made and a trip to MD Anderson was scheduled. A new treatment plan was devised and hopes were pinned on a good outcome.
But by October Rachel's blood counts had dropped so low that she was immediately hospitalized after what was supposed to be just a routine check up with her oncologist. The treatments were taking their toll on her. In mid November they learned that the treatments just weren't having the desired effect and a new approach was needed. Though Rachel was in pain every day, the family remained hopeful that a new approach would offer the solace they needed.
The hardest part of this story is letting you all know that in January 2020, cancer cells were found in Rachel's spinal fluid and tumors in her brain.
