Tori was a beautiful, vivacious, fun loving and silly girl who loved her family and friends above all else. She got a bad case of "the flu" and on Christmas Eve 2005 was taken to the emergency room for antibiotics. Within a couple of hours, she had been admitted with the diagnosis of a form of blood cancer, it was AML. Christmas Day, we were flown to Oakland and my amazing child's fight for life began. One of Tori's worries as a teenage girl was losing her hair. Soon enough, she had changed her perspective and she asked for and got a mohawk before her hair fell out completely. Tori maintained a positive attitude and her sense of humor was intact throughout the just over 8 months of treatment. Her love of music, dancing and singing never wavered. We even had dance parties at the hospital. When asked what she had learned from her experience she responded,"Life is precious. Never waste a moment." My beautiful girl, my best friend, left us on Sept. 1st 2006, just 8 days after her 16th birthday.