My name is Skylar Corvin and I am eleven years old. I was diagnosed with Ewing’s Sarcoma in December of 2004. The tumor I had then was located in my right scapula and so begins my story…

In October of 2004 my shoulder began to hurt after I did some pull ups in my gym class. My shoulder hurt a lot and I went to see my pediatrician. I was taken for x-rays and nothing was found to be injured so I was sent home with Motrin and Tylenol. But the pain didn’t go away. I cried a lot at night and my mom and dad kept taking me to the doctors and they kept finding nothing. On my last visit to my pediatrician, he ordered us to go to an orthopedics doctor and have an MRI. Within a few hours they were calling my mom and dad in to talk to them. The doctor said that it was a tumor in my scapula and that he thought it was cancer. I was then set up to meet with Joan Fisher and Dr. Foster at UVA for a biopsy. We went to the biopsy and they told my mom and dad that it was Ewing’s Sarcoma and that we would need to start treatment right away. The doctors here allowed me to have Christmas day at home and on the 28th of December, 2004, my Chemo started. We did the Chemo for 4 cycles of 3 days in the hospital, and 3 weeks later it was for 5 days. This would have to go on for 14 cycles of Chemo and it was overwhelming. After 4 cycles we went to MCV in Richmond, VA for my surgery. We were having my shoulder blade and the surrounding muscles that encased it removed. The surgery was very difficult and I had to take Morphine for the pain. I ended up in an arm sling for months and have 52 stitches across my shoulder and down my back. But everything was going to be OK, the tumor was gone.

I went back home to Roanoke, VA and finished my Chemo. It was hard being sick all the time and having no luck with my lines and parts in my chest so they had to do more surgeries to replace them. A lot of things hurt but we all have to do what we’ve gotta do to get better.

After Chemo was complete in November of 2005, my scans and MRI’s came back that I was in remission. I was finally cancer-free!

I had a really good year. I learned how to ride my bike again and how to swim and be normal. I got to go to school and make new friends and be out there and free, finally.

In June of 2006 I walked my survival lap at Relay for Life with a smile on my face. I could finally say that I had beaten this nasty disease.

In July of 2006, the Make A Wish Foundation sent me and my family to San Diego for my wish. We went to the San Diego Zoo, Sea World, and Wild Animal Park. It was amazing. I didn’t get to meet my hero Steve Erwin, but the zoo and the trip was more than I could ever dream of.

After my exciting summer I got back into the swing of school and my normal life. The normal life I love. I was attending a new school and I really liked it a lot. Then in October of 2006 I fell on a balance beam on the playground and hit my leg. It swelled up real bad but all the doctors said it was OK. My parents kept talking to the doctors again until we found out the news that my cancer had come back. It had come back in my right tibia and it had erupted out of the bone. The doctors did MRI’s on my legs and found that I also have numerous lesions in my left leg too. It wasn’t as scary to know I have cancer again, but it made me sad to know I beat it once and now I have to fight this battle all over again.

So here I go again and this time it is different. I have no protocol because we have to see what works. I am currently on my second set of Chemo drugs because the first ones didn’t shrink my tumor. It’s OK and I’m OK. Things happen for a reason and we may not know why now, but there always is a reason. I am trying to make the new kids up here at the hospital with Chemo know that everything will be OK. If people can use me to help others know new ways to stop this disease, I am on top of that. Well it is what it is and I am fighting for my life again. I will win. My faith says that I beat it once and I’ll do it again.

Who knows why we have to go through so much sometimes, I just bet it will be worth it. And another thing; I am special because how many kids can have a nickname of “The 2 Million Dollar Kid”? I do and I am so proud of it. The money for my treatments, the doctors and nurses, my friends, and my family have all helped me be who I am and at the top is God. He knows what I need and he’ll help me, he always has.