On June 27, I was diagnosed with a rare cancer called Rhabdomyosarcoma. After almost six months of Chemotherapy I am now cancer free. If you don't want to read my story, feel free to skip to the end.

Late May, I noticed a small lump at the back of my throat. I thought nothing of it, so I decided to ignore it. Early June I noticed it was increasing in size, so I told my parents and we went to a local satellite clinic to get it checked out. That was a mistake. They told me it was just canker sore, and they gave me a prescription in case the "canker" got infected. Two weeks past, and the lump had gotten even larger. Imagine a lump about the size of a Canadian Toonie in the back of my throat. It was starting to get difficult to do everyday things such as eating and breathing. My parents scheduled an appointment for me with a local ENT (Ears, Nose and Throat) Specialist. The earliest I could see him was July 22 (over a month later.) A few day after the appointment was scheduled (still around the middle of June,) I went to see my Orthodontist (I had braces at the time) and as he was inspecting my teeth, he asked what the lump in the back of my throat was. We told him that they think it is just a canker. He said "No, this doesn't look like a normal canker, you need to get this checked out right away." He proceeded to call the ENT and got me an appointment two days after he called. When I got to the ENT he asked me a few questions like "does the lump hurt?" I said "no" and he thought that was odd for a canker to not be painful. He sprayed my throat with a numbing liquid and 15 minutes later he did a biopsy (he cut a small sample of the lump) and we left the office. About a week later, I was hanging out at a friend's house with a few other people, when I got a call. My mom called and had a very worried tone in her voice and said "stop what you're doing, you need to come home now." I was confused, and when I got home, my family broke the bad news. "The biopsy results are back, and... you have cancer." I was shocked. The lump turned out to be an embryonic tumor. All I could do was stand and listen, my brain couldn't comprehend what was going on. I was pretty much quiet for the rest of the night. I tried gaming but there was too much going on in my mind. The next morning, I was taken to the Children's Hospital in Vancouver B.C. (about a two hour drive from my home) and I met my Doctor. She told me if I had waited any longer, I would have most likely died. I am so grateful that my Orthodontist got me my appointment early, it saved my life. After I got to meet her, I had blood drawn. This was one of the first real needles I had gotten in my life. I was examined to make sure there were no other tumors on my body. I wasn't able to get any other tests done until I had my braces removed. After we were released, I went to see my Orthodontist to remove my braces. It was a pretty rough day. I went back to Vancouver every day for the following week get all kinds of tests and such. One of the bigger ones was called a "Bone Marrow Biopsy" and a "Spinal Tap." If you want to know more about them, you can look them up. I had conscious sedation and a day after the surgery, I was released. I ended up being sick on the car ride home. A week later I went back for the surgery to remove the tumor from my throat. I was admitted for two weeks and I wasn't able to eat anything. I was being hydrated and getting painkillers (Morphine) through the IV (Intravenous, basically a needle in my hand connected to a tube.) Near the end of the two weeks, I had a VAD (Ventricular Access Device) surgically placed in my chest (if you want to know what it is, look it up.) Before I was released, they gave me my first dose of Chemotherapy. I was on three Chemo drugs:

Vincristine - For me, this was a very weak chemo, the only side effects I experienced were jaw pain, weakness and difficulty moving my fingers. I got this chemo every single Monday for the six months.
Dactinomycin or Actinomycin D - For me, this was a slightly strong chemo, the side effects I experienced were hair loss, tiredness and nausea (only lasted about three days) and I got this chemo every third Monday for the six months.
Cyclophosphamide - For me, this was a very strong chemo, the side effects I experienced were hair loss, extreme weakness, extreme tiredness and nausea (lasted one week) and I had this chemo every third Monday for 3 months. This was the only Chemo that I needed to be admitted over night to get.

After three months of getting Chemotherapy, I finally stopped having to get Cyclo, which was by far the worst. I also started to get Radiation therapy after three months. I had to go to Vancouver every day for one month straight just to get Radiation therapy. My last Chemo treatment (Dactino) is on December 19, 2011. In four days, this will all be done with. I can finally say "I am cancer free!" To me, this is the greatest thing I have ever achieved, and I could have never done it with out the Doctors and Nurses at the Children's Hospital, the support from my good and true friends and the love from my family. If you actually read this entire post, I thank you for reading my story.

My name is Mac, I'm 15 years old, and I am cancer survivor.