Awards09

"By coming out alive, I have taken a hard look at
my goals in the future of being able to obtain a
degree in Medicine, and that I might be able to
continue on in life to help in the treatment and
cure for those affected. There are so many
people in our community in Northern Kentucky
that don't even have the means to get to the
hospital to receive treatment and having be
diagnosed with cancer. I and my fellow students
at Covington High School have participated in
many local projects that help support the local
neighborhoods in and around Covington. I would
like to urge my fellow students to also participate
at Children's Hospital in Cincinnati to assist in the
Child Life Program and assist curernt patients at
the hospital by just being able to brighten their
day by simply acting like a "Big Brother" for
many of the kids that are undergoing various
treatments. I've learned that just a little caring can
go a long way in the cure for any patient.

The mission of the Kyle Lee Foundation, Inc. is to provide
financial assistance to college students who have survived
cancer, especially Ewing's sarcoma. This foundation was
established to honor the memory of Kyle Antony Lee, who was
tragically taken by Ewing's sarcoma before he could fulfill his
dreams of attending college and medical school.

We are extremely proud to announce this year's recipients of the Kyle Lee Foundation,
Inc. scholarship. We received many excellent applications -- all of which are worthy of
funding. This year we were able to award five scholarships to college students who showed
strong courage battling cancer. We wish to thank all those who have supported this
foundation, and the students that applied to take part in it. Below are excerpts from the
application essays from each of the recipients.

"I was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma
when I was 16...When I was halfway through with
my two year course of chemo, my best friend,
Sara, was diagnosed with Hodgkin''s disease. Our
high school's staff could not remember the last
time that a student had been diagnosed with cancer,
and now two of us were going through treatment at
the same time.

Sara and I developed a strange obsession
with a TV show, "Gilmore Girls." I think that it was
a distraction that gave us something 'normal' to talk
about. Sara and I decided that we both wanted to
go to Yal, just as Rory, the main character did. My
treatment succeeded, after many unusual side
effects ... Sara detoured to Minneapolis for a bone
marrow transplant, and finally gave up the fight, but
not until we attended graduation together. She died
two weeks later.

"In November of 2002, I had weeks to live. No one had ever survived a relapse of Askin's
Tumor following a stem cell transplant. This motivated me to want to help others and be an
inspiration and leader to others.

I try to balance the advocacy work with other things like college. I have accepted that
cancer will never leave me. It is embedded in me - physically, mentally, emotionally and
spiritually. It makes me grateful to be in such an amazing country with so many
opportunities."

"I always questioned when people would say that
being diagnosed with cancer had its benefits, but
now I see what they mean. Cancer has made me
realize there is more to life than material things such
as money, but it gives you more of an appreciation
for things like love, family, and just to be happy for
the days that is given to you. After that, all else is
trivial"

I am at Yale now, living the dream for both of us. I will graduate next year, and then hope
to enter medical school. I don't want any more friends to go through what Sara and I had to,
and don't want any more 12 year olds to hear the diagnosis that Kyle heard."

"I have been asked on so many occassions to
describe my fight with cancer. What I went
through doesn't matter to me. It doesn't matter
that I suffered through seemingly endless rounds
of chemotherapy and radiation. It doesn't matter
that people stared at me as if I was a diseased,
distored shell of a human being. It doesn't matter
that late at night I would lie alone and nauseated in
the hospital praying that a six month coma would
overtake my body until I could go into remission.
Waht matters is that I did beat it, I am in
remission, and because of it I am strong. After
my radiation and chemotherapy regiments I began
to ask myself where I would go and what I would
do. I now have the answers to these questions. I
will do whatever it takes to become a functioning
contributing member of society. I want to make
something of myself. I will attend college and I
will graduate as a well educated, well rounded
person."