All Are Our Heroes

'I am changed completely by having survived cancer.'

October 1998 brought the scariest Halloween of Alaina Shapiro's life. Then only 12, she'd just been diagnosed with cancer – a soft tissue tumor in her left leg near her knee. Almost worse, she says, it was the first time she'd even seen her dad cry.

A bump on her leg that wouldn't heal and some persistent soreness were Alaina's only symptoms. "It was complete shock. I had no family history of cancer. I never knew anybody who had cancer," says Alaina. "Shock is the only way to describe it."

After the shock, though, came radiation and chemotherapy, then surgery to remove the tumor, followed by more chemo and physical therapy. "It was pretty intense for about a year. At one point, I was so sick from the chemo that I had to have a feeding tube. The doctors were afraid the chemo was going to kill me, rather than the cancer."

"It's tough to remember," she says, "But at the same time I don't want to forget, because if I forget than I can't educate other people and let them know this is real. I survived…other people are surviving. And for those that don't survive, I have to be their voice, too."

There is no question that cancer and the triumph of survivorship are inextricably a part of Alaina. Fully engaged in this battle and brimming with passion and drive to save someone else from what she describes as a "horrible experience," this 22-year-old is now optimism personified.

"I am changed completely by having survived cancer. Every single day, I am appreciative to live life to its fullest."

She is more than meeting that mark. As her mom says, "You're surviving and thriving."

A one-time youth ambassador for the American Cancer Society (ACS), Alaina is again captaining a Relay for Life team, as she does almost every year. Supported by an ACS college scholarship, she is a journalism graduate from Georgia State and is the communications coordinator for Emory University's Radiation Department. Yes, the very place she was treated. "I still see my doctor and we still make fun of each other."

"Cancer never scared me. There was no choice but to survive. So now, I can look back and say I'm afraid of spiders, sharks and snakes, but cancer didn't really scare me."