The week before June 29th, 2012 my daughter Chelsey was a normal 17 year old girl enjoying the summer before her senior year of high school. She was tall and athletic. She was beautiful and smart. She was a pretty popular kid. Chelsey was in her 6th year of playing travelball softball all over the state trying to earn a scholarship into college. And when she wasn’t doing that or working she was enjoying the beach with her friends. It should’ve been the best times of her life. But then the bruises came. She woke up with 10 new ones one morning. The little red dots appeared on her stomach and back. I’m thinking it’s June…so heat rash. She chose to take a nap instead of go to the beach. And then she asked to be taken out of a game because she didn’t feel well. My daughter HATED to ride the bench. Knowing that this was not typical for my daughter, we made a trip to the doctor. By the end of that week our universe had crashed down around us and we would never again be the same. Acute Myeloid Leukemia. We were hurled into another world. Treatment started immediately and she was “LUCKY” enough to be part of a study drug that we were hopeful would improve her chances. Chelsey would do all 4 rounds of chemo and be NED (no evidence of disease) after each round. Her friends all started their senior year without her. In five months as she battled, she would only get to go home a total of 15 days. She would spend her 18th birthday secluded at Arnold Palmer. There were several ups and downs, some very scary situations through treatment, but at the finish line she unexpectedly took a turn for the worse. Chelsey’s bone marrow would never fully recover from chemo leaving her with no immune system to fight. She fought so hard…but on November 26th, she became my angel.