Holiday Miracles by Julia Flake

           As we are already deep into the holiday season, I wanted to stop and think for a moment about what it is really about. Although it is always fun to wake up Christmas morning to find a ton of presents under the tree, what this time is really about is spending time with family. Specifically, I came to reflect on my family situation this time last year which ultimately turned out to be a Christmas miracle. Here is my true and inspirational story...



    Although I may not know every bit and detail about this situation since my parents didn't want to upset my siblings and I, I came to learn and figure out what had happened over the past year.
My aunt Kim (my mom's sister) is in her early 50's. A year or two ago she was diagnosed with cancer (which I believe was in her kidneys). After countless doctor visits and stressful times, it continued to get worse and worse. The cancer eventually spread to many different parts of her body...it was everywhere. At this exact time last year, my aunt was so sick that she was basically told that she did not have much time left to live. As the strong and uplifting person that my mom is, she very rarely showed my siblings and I her sadness and disbelief. She never once stopped fighting to help my aunt get all the care she could possibly have. Specifically, she started an online fundraiser for my aunt to help raise money to fly her out to the Cancer Center of America in Chicago in order for her to get a life changing surgery. With the help of many, many countless generous friends and family, my mom raised thousands and thousands of dollars. She was able to fly to Chicago with my aunt!
     She had her surgery probably a week before Christmas at the time and it was very stressful and hard on my whole family. To everyone's surprise, the surgery ended remarkably well, which was very lucky and unexpected. The doctors got all of the cancer out! It was completely gone!!
My family rejoiced and thanked God for what had happened for keeping my aunt alive. She lives a happy and normal life today with her husband and three kids with some visits to the doctor here and there to get checked out. However, I couldn't be more grateful for what had happened and I wanted to share my Christmas miracle with everyone (:

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!