Starting College: The dreams and nerves of a girl touched by cancer

Written by Julia, St. Baldrick’s 2011 Ambassador Kid. Julia was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia, a type of childhood cancer, when she was 16. Today, Julia is in remission and on to her next challenge: college.

Starting college has been very exciting for me! I’ve overcome a lot of things and to finally be here, at my dream school (Ohio State), is just icing on the cake. I’m at a school in a class of 7,000 students where only 3 others come from the school district I was in for the past 12 years. I’m taking two political science classes, a psychology class, a Shakespearean Literature class as well as two required freshman classes. As a political science major, I’m obviously most looking forward to my class about campaigns and elections, which will be especially interesting because of the November elections. While starting a new chapter of my life should be scary, the only fear I have so far is that I may not be able to read an entire Shakespeare play every week and a half!

I live in a quad dorm with three roommates who I love dearly already. I was lucky to have been able to meet two of my roommates back in March and was able to keep in touch with them before I made the move to Columbus. They’re both from Ohio so they know more about the particulars of the state than I do, which has been helpful for me. I’ve become especially close with one of them, and she will be coming out to California over winter break for my birthday, which we’re all very excited about. Other than that, I’ve joined a couple of student organizations, and I have season tickets to the Ohio State football games which will be fun to attend.

Moving away from home means I’ve also had to prepare for being away from my doctor. I have a doctor I can go to at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus. Both hospitals have agreed that I would only need to visit my Columbus hospital in case of an emergency, which hopefully means I won’t have to go there ever, even though the hospital is absolutely gorgeous. I also have access to our campus hospital and student care center (which is great), so if I start to feel like something may be wrong, I can just get some blood work done there and send my lab results to Long Beach. All of these options mean I’m only a little bit nervous about being away from my doctor. He’s a great safety net to have, but no one at home is worried about me, so I’m not too worried either.

While being away from home may take some time to get used to, I am grateful for the wonderful support system I have. My family, friends and doctors (old and new) have made this transition much easier than I expected. I can’t wait to see what my freshman year as an Ohio State Buckeye has in store for me!

Read more Childhood Cancer Awareness Month stories or get involved with a St. Baldrick’s event near you!