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Amber Ashworth |
| Welcome to Amber's Website!!! |
| Around March of my ninth grade year my right shoulder
began to give me problems. I went to the doctor about my shoulder
and he said it was probably just a pulled muscle but wanted me to
go to an orthopedic doctor. I did not go to the doctor because my
shoulder had stopped hurting . I had an appointment for when I got
back from a church camp at the end of July . However, I fell at church
camp and when I got home my parents took me to Richmond Memorial Hospital's
emergency room. The doctor there told me my should was broke. The
doctor pulled my parents aside and told them there was also a tumor
on my shoulder. Then after many trips to UNC Hospitals in Chapel Hill, North Carolina and many different tests , the doctors told me and my parents that I had cancer. That was on August 15, 2003. It was very hard for everyone who loved me, including myself , to accept and understand what was happening. Then about a week later my doctor did an open biopsy on my right shoulder and put a central line from my left shoulder to my chest . Then a few days later we met with the doctor and he informed us I had osteosarcoma, which is a type of bone cancer. I went through 12 rounds of horrible chemotherapy treatments for the past 6 months. When I was making many trips to the hospital , I met a very nice, sweet, caring person, Emily Lynch. Emily is my cancer pal when I go back and forth to the hospital. I appreciate her taking time out of her day to come and visit me. She doesn't just come by for 10 minutes,she comes and stays hours with me. Many of my friends and family have pulled together to help us in anyway they could. Megan Kidd and her parents held a carwash and bake sale for me in late August. The carwash and bake sale was from 10am til 2pm and they raised over $1400.00. Megan got many of our classmates and parents to help at the carwash and bake sale. Then on October 11, 2003 many parents got together at Ellerbe First Baptist Church and had a BBQ chicken plate sale with Gospel singing from 11am till 7pm . There was over $5000.00 raised, Then there was a golf tournament in Hamlet, North Carolina sponsored by Chris Carpenter. They raised over $3000.00 . There has been many other fundraiser's to earn money for me and my family. Then in December 2003, I was granted a wish by the Make-A-Wish Foundation. My family and I went on a 5 day 4 night cruise to the Bahamas from December 22nd to the 26th. On the morning of December 22nd a limo picked us up at 5 am and took us to the Charlotte North Carolina . We flew to Miami, Florida and got on the ship "The Majesty of the Seas". We sailed to Nassau, Cocca Cay, and Key West. The family and I enjoyed the time we spent together. While I was undergoing treatment, I only was able to spend time with 1 parent at a time and none with my sister and brother. In Nassau we went to the Paradise Hotel as a family. In Cocca Cay my dad and I went riding on a jetski, while my mom and brother went swimming and enjoyed the sun. In Key West we went shopping for the day and hung out on the ship. In January we attended the Celebration of Hope ball. My mother, father, (best friend) Megan Kidd, and myself attended it in the big town Charlotte. Then Lisa , Jim and Abby Wright went along with us. Richmond County Daily Journal's Mary-Katherine Ham also attended the Celebration of Hope. It was a blast. We met Kevin Donnally, offensive line man for the Carlina Panthers. We also met Ethen , the winner of Survivor Africa. |