Cancer survivor inspires stranger

Anna Jones Student Writer

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UNA sophomore Shelby Fink was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma, a

cancer of the immune system, when she was seven years old. 

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Originally from Birmingham, she is working toward a major in child

development and a minor in outdoor recreation.  

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“Cancer has made me so much more independent,” Fink said. “I just

love sharing my story with people.”

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Her miraculous experience began on a seemingly ordinary day eating

at Denny’s with her mother and sister.  

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While at the restaurant, her mom noticed a lump on her neck. Fink

was soon treated for both cat scratch fever and mono in hopes that

the swelling in her neck would go down, but it did not.

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“It grew to be as long as a football and as wide as a grapefruit,

so it was pretty much a sausage link on my neck,” she said. “I was

referred to an oncologist at Children’s Hospital and they did a

biopsy and found out it was Hodgkin’s lymphoma.”

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This type of cancer is incredibly rare for a 7-year-old girl

because it most commonly affects males between the ages of 15 and

55.  

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Also, as Fink explained, Hodgkin’s lymphoma typically moves in a

chain-like pattern, but hers skipped directly from her neck to her

lungs.  

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In the fifth grade, Fink’s youth group became active in a project

to feed the homeless and, being a friendly and outgoing girl, she

introduced herself to a man named Mississippi. 

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When she asked Mississippi how he was, he replied that he had been

diagnosed with prostate cancer that same day. Fink proceeded to

tell him about her battle with cancer; she later found out that

Mississippi told the organization he had planned to end his own

life that night, but said that the little 12-year-old girl gave him

hope to fight. 

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“In about the 10th grade, I visited my friend’s church and they

were having a talk about feeding the homeless and a lady started

telling my story!” Fink said. “I told her, ‘That little girl was

me!’ That really showed me how that my one story could impact that

one man and then impact tons of other people.”

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When the doctors first discovered the cancer on her lung, surgery

was performed to remove the spot and insert a port, which is used

for treatments such as chemotherapy and blood transfusions.

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“Right after surgery, my lungs collapsed and I was put on a

ventilator,” Fink said.  

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She was made to stay in the hospital for a long time after this,

and her parents were there for her every step of the way.

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“They always made it better,” she said. “They’d order pizza for the

whole floor and all the nurses would be upset that they’d get them

off their diets.”

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Fink also commented on her numerous trips back to the hospital for

chemotherapy treatments. “You had to be there from eight till five

or six at night, and if your blood counts were low you’d be

admitted or you’d have to have a blood transfusion, which I had

several of.” 

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Finally, after two years filled with chemotherapy and prayers, Fink

was considered to be in remission and she has been healthy ever

since. 

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She also told about how her experience really helped her walk with

God.

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“I believe that without my faith in the Lord I would not have

beaten cancer and I would not be as strong in my faith as I am

today,” she said. “Every opportunity I get to serve or help with

cancer research, I do it.

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 “I’ve won my battle, but the war with cancer is still going on,”

she said. “I want to one day have a non-profit organization to help

research cancer and to help people who are going through

cancer.”