1. Y ou A re
Mos koff
Micah
2011 el
b
lace W inner
ird P
re So
And ard
Aw
Th

2. A bo ut
Micah
has
now
been
in
remission
for
5
years
and
is
going
strong.
She
was
diagnosed
with
Acute
Lymphoblastic
Leukemia
in
November
2003
at
the
age
of
11
and
completed
her
treatment
in
July
2006.
She
currently
attends
Elmira
College
in
New
York
and
is
actively
involved
with
the
tennis
team,
the
Gold
Key
Society
and
Ultimate
Frisbee.
She
is
also
the
senator
for
Hillel.
She
plans
to
focus
on
Human
Services
and
Psychology
and
is
looking
towards
a
career
in
which
she
is
able
to
help
people.
After
her
long
battle,
her
entire
outlook
on
life
has
changed.
The
uncontrollable
fear,
anger
and
determination
to
beat
out
her
disease
brought
her
so
many
blessings
in
the
end.
The
amazing
people
she
met
through
treatment,
the
support
of
her
family
and
friends
and
the
lessons
she
learned
through
this
process
makes
her
goal,
which
is
to
experience
as
much
as
she
can.
The
inspiration
for
her
essay
came
from
her
love
of
writing
and
being
able
to
express
herself
as
differently
and
uniquely
as
possible.
She
expressed
her
emotions
through
various
fonts
and
styles
of
writing
to
convey
her
sense
of
fear,
anger
and
the
difficult
journey
she
went
through.
Micah
plans
on
using
the
award
funding
to
support
her
dreams
of
traveling
and
saving
for
her
future
goals
in
life.

3. Es say
AAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Okay,
take
a
moment...Breathe...Let's
be
honest,
Micah,
that's
never
worked
for
you.
In
all
honesty,
whoever
came
up
with
screaming
at
the
top
of
one's
lungs
was
genius.
Because
though
it
does
not
solve
anything,
it
is
liberating.
And
everyone
needs,
or
at
least
wants,
to
feel
free
as
opposed
to
feeling
trapped.
You
see,
the
truth
is,
I'm
not
sure
how
to
start
my
story
this
time.
I've
written
about
it
time
after
time,
I've
talked
about
day
after
day,
and
God
knows
I've
thought
about
it
more
than
I
can
ever
let
on.
I
guess,
today,
I
just
feel...LOST.
Here
are
the
facts:
1.
I
was
diagnosed
with
acute
lymphoblastic
leukemia
back
on
November
1,
2003
at
eleven
years
old.
2.
I
spent
almost
three
years
fighting
something
I
was
told
I
could
originally
beat
in
a
little
under
two
years.
3.
My
treatment
consisted
of
chemotherapy,
radiation,
and
lots
of
television,
mainly
FRIENDS
and
reality
TV.
4.
I
finished
treatment
on
July
25,
2006.
5.
I
will
be
officially
cancer
free
this
summer
because
I
will
have
reached
my
five-­‐year
mark.
Now,
that
was
the
easy
part,
but
let's
be
honest:
the
in-­‐between,
you
know,
the
real
make-­‐
you-­‐want-­‐to-­‐throw-­‐pillows-­‐out-­‐the-­‐window
or
the
emotional-­‐pain-­‐that-­‐is-­‐so-­‐overwhelming-­‐

4. you-­‐think-­‐your-­‐heart-­‐might-­‐stop-­‐even-­‐for-­‐a-­‐second
truth
is
so
much
greater
and
harder
to
tell...because
it
just
is.
I
know
I'm
rambling,
I
know.
But
like
I
said,
the
breathing
never
helps,
so
I
have
to
express
myself
in
a
way
that
even
puzzles
me.
The
bottom
line
is
that
no
one
ever
tells
you
the
real
truth,
the
in-­‐between-­‐the-­‐lines
truth:
there
is
so
much
that
you
couldn't
change
if
you
wanted
to,
and
for
better
or
worse,
relationships
made
every
difference
in
this
horrifying
and
yet,
strangely
poetic
journey.
When
I
was
sick,
it
was
like
I
was
glass.
I
could
easily
break
and
people
had
to
treat
me
with
care.
And
they
did.
My
mom,
dad,
and
two-­‐year
older
brother
became
so
much
to
me.
They
were
my
shelter,
or
I
guess
in
this
metaphor
I'm
attempting
to
create,
a
table
for
me
to
rest
on.
(DOES
THAT
ACTUALLY
MAKE
SENSE?)
Anyway,
something
held
us
together
and
therefore,
I
held
together.
Like
I
said,
I
was
fragile
and
there
were
times
when
I
did
break.
But
they
always
managed
to
piece
me
back
together.
I
love
them.
I
do.
Of
course,
I
had
some
incredible
friends,
too.
Keep
in
mind,
they
were
all
young,
like
me.
Innocent,
not
even
at
the
age
of
puberty
yet.
But
they
called
me,
hugged
me,
protected
me,
laughed
with
me.
Maybe
they
didn't
understand,
even
I
didn't
understand.
Not
sure
if
I
do
to
this
day.
But
the
few
that
stayed
by
me...Well,
thank
you.
And
I
won't
be
letting
them
out
of
my
life
anytime
soon.
Then,
there
were
others.
Those
who
didn't
know
how
to
cope
with
my
illness
or
how
to
react
to
me.
Once,
upon
a
time,
there
was
a
young
girl
with
long
brown
hair,
a
goofy
smile,
and
a
naive
sense
about
her.
She
was
good
at
basketball
and
softball,
made
ridiculous
jokes,
and
felt
on
top
of
the
world.
GONE.
Something
happened
along
the
way
to
me:
She
became
bald,
sick,
tired,
she
spent
most
of
her
time
sleeping,
soon
she
became
reserved
and
lost.
The
end.
So,
in
some
ways,
it
was
my
fault
too.
I
didn't
reach
out
as
much
as
I
should
have.
I
didn't
know
how.
In
order
to
understand,
just
imagine,
standing
in
place
while
the
world
is
speeding
past
you
at
the
speed
of
light.
They
move
on
with
their
life
but
you
are
just...STILL.

5.
I
learned
from
this
that
some
relationships
change
forever.
And
for
anyone,
especially
an
eleven-­‐twelve-­‐year
old
girl,
it's
never
easy.
How
do
you
fix
it?
How
do
you
change
it?
See,
there
it
is
again:
change.
Then
you
realize,
maybe,
as
much
as
it
hurts
for
them
to
go,
maybe
they
were
there
in
your
life
when
you
needed
them
and
gone
when
you
were
ready
to
move
on.
Unfortunately,
there
are
times
when
relationships
are
not
enough.
I
met
several
people
throughout
my
journey
who
were
plagued
with
similar
life-­‐threatening
illnesses.
They
didn't
make
it.
With
that,
came
survivor's
guilt.
Nothing
is
as
painful
as
questioning
why
you
remained
alive
while
the
person
you
cared
about,
who
had
a
similar
journey,
was
taken
away.
At
the
end
of
the
day,
all
someone
ever
looks
for,
is
to
have
someone
to
hold
onto,
even
for
a
little
while.
And
when
someone
is
sick,
all
they
look
for
is
someone
to
give
them
a
sense
of
belonging,
but
more
than
anything,
people
look
for...HOPE.
Because,
no
they
don't
get
what
you're
going
through,
not
one
hundred
percent.
And
they
can
drive
you
crazy.
Or
they
leave
your
life,
maybe
even
leave
the
world.
But
when
you're
fighting
something
that
makes
you
question
everything,
and
makes
you
feel
lost
as
anything
else,
all
it
takes
is
just
knowing
that
even
if
you
feel
alone,
there
are
others
in
the
world
who
want
to
be
lost
and
alone
with
you.
I'm
not
sure
if
this
is
even
on
point.
I
feel
a
little
lost
myself
nowadays.
What
I'm
trying
to
say
is
that
sometimes,
all
we
need
is
to
know
that
despite
the
obstacles,
despite
the
burden
of
the
unknown,
all
we
need
to
do
is
to
find
our
way
back.
We
need
to
hold
on
tight
with
each
other,
close
our
eyes,
and
imagine
deep
within
us
the
inner
child
that
keeps
us
holding
onto
the
possibility
of
letting
go
and
learning
to
find
the
wonders
of
freefalling!