Lauren's nickname in elementary school was Sparkle, and she was very excited about moving onto middle school at the same school her older sister had attended. She was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia a couple weeks before school started and missed almost all of sixth grade due to treatment. She was one miserable little girl the first two weeks she spent inpatient, but she started to feel better about a month into treatment. Prior to diagnosis Lauren enjoyed her friends, family, Special Olympics, swimming in her pool and her dad's dog. Lauren underwent several bone marrow aspirations, 23 spinal taps and chemo injected into her spine, rounds of shots given into her thighs at home, too many very painful shots in her thighs administered by nurses in clinic, countless IV chemo treatments, rounds of steroids and oral chemo given at home. After 28 months Lauren finished treatment 11/29/12 and now goes in for monthly blood work. Throughout treatment Lauren was a trooper and she loves her oncology staff and greets them with big hugs. Lauren started horseback riding when when she hit long term maintenance and now rides two nights a week at two different therapeutic riding facilities. She loves spending time with Lexi, her new puppy at Mom's, spending time with her nephew (who was born a couple weeks after her diagnosis) and watching dvds. She particularly likes House MD, The Three Stooges, Seinfeld, Breakfast at Tiffany's and many other movies. Lauren is also thrilled to be back in school and is now in the eighth grade. She gets mad when doctor visits take away from her school day and would go to school on the weekend if she could!