Leukemia survivor gets full college scholarship

When Yadi Gil was 12 years old, she was diagnosed with leukemia.

“I was scared,” she said. “I realized why cancer is such a scary word.”

It’s scary at any age- especially in the middle of your childhood.

“I had to have my head shaved, and that was emotionally one of the most painful moments,” Yadi said.

And not just for Yadi. She said that was also really hard for her little sister.

“She ran up to give me a hug but she was so saddened by me not having hair, that she ran to a corner and curled up in a little ball, and started crying,” said Yadi.

The leukemia itself was obviously hard, but the impact it had on her family is still very difficult for Yadi.

“You are just in there, in a hospital immobile sometimes or in a coma, and they’re just there,” she said. “They’re with you, but they don’t get to do what a normal family would.”

That’s why Yadi is going into health care. She said support from others helped her and her family through that really tough time.

“When you’ve been there, you can relate, you can understand the pain they are going through,” she said.

But she does have some good memories from her time in the hospital, like the time one of her nurses wore roller skates.

“I want to be like that when I’m older. I want to make a kid smile,” she said. “That was one of the memories that just stands out of the rest.”

She said the best doctors are the ones who genuinely care.

” We are not just a diagnosis or just a number. because that makes a huge difference,” Yadi said.

She beat the cancer and is now is dreaming big.

“It doesn’t matter where you start out in life, the struggles that you face, if you want something it is possible,” she said.

She said she also would love to be able to travel to different countries to help provide medical care to people who can’t always get it.

Stevens-Henager College is giving her a full ride scholarship to complete her associate’s degree.