ACS helps student cancer survivors

By: Jose Lopez-Bribiesca, Assistant Lifestyles Editor

Posted: 1/24/06

If cancer is a difficult disease to confront, then it is even harder when the patient is on the path toward obtaining a college degree.

In Arkansas alone, there were 14,950 estimated cases of cancer in 2005, according to the American Cancer Society Web site, Cancer.org.

Because of these statistics, the ACS has made a scholarship fund available for cancer survivors, realizing the battle against cancer "can be an enormous financial and emotional hardship, especially on young people," according to the Web site.

Last year, four northwest Arkansas students received the scholarship, and two of them are UA students.

Cassie Fincher, senior speech-language pathology major from Springdale, is one of the UA recipients of the scholarship.

Fincher said the scholarship helped pay a large portion of her tuition, about half of what she needed for the semester.

"It's helped me out a lot," Fincher said, who added she is in the process of applying for the award again, this time for graduate school.

Fincher has received the scholarship for the last four years. However, she said she is not guaranteed to receive it automatically because she is "given a fair shot just like everyone else."

Rhonda Bramell, marketing and communications specialist for the ACS in Fayetteville, said the money for the scholarship comes from fundraising that takes place in the mid-South division.

Last year, 175 students received scholarships in the ACS mid-South division, 17 from Arkansas. Some winners received it for the first time while others, like Fincher, renewed the scholarship.

In order to qualify for the scholarship, a recipient must have been diagnosed with cancer before age 21. Fincher was diagnosed at age 3 with acute lymphocytic leukemia, or ALL.

ALL is a form of cancer that begins in the white blood cells in the bone marrow. The disease moves quickly to the blood stream, and occurs rapidly and suddenly. ALL accounts for the majority of childhood leukemia cases.

In 2005, there were an estimated 3,970 people in the United States with cases such as Fincher's, according to the ACS Web site. Arkansas had 400 estimated leukemia cases last year.

Fincher said she is thankful her cancer was not chronic, or prolonged and slow, and that she had it when her body was more durable. She said she is also thankful the disease has not returned.

By not dwelling on the past and looking toward the future, Fincher said she was able to get through the disease.

"I guess I've always been a fighter," she said.

She credits family support and prayer as reasons for having healed from the disease at age 7, and also acknowledges her faith had to do with her recovery.

"I do believe it was a miracle," she said. "[God] had his hand on me. He didn't let go. It just wasn't my time."

She said her survival makes her see she has a purpose in this world. "Hopefully it's speech pathology and to help people," Fincher said with a smile.

The ACS scholarship began in 2000. The $1,000 award will go toward a recipient's tuition, and an ACS volunteer committee bases the winners on their financial need and their academic and leadership experience.

To be eligible for the 2006 ACS Scholarship, a student must meet all of the following requirements:

1. Have a cancer diagnosis before age 21

2. Be under the age of 25 at the time of application

3. Be a legal resident of Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee or Clark or Floyd County, Indiana

4. Be a U.S. citizen

5. Have a G.P.A. of at least 2.5 (based on a 4.0 scale) or equivalent

6. Be accepted (without condition) to an accredited two or four-year university or community college. Consideration will be given to students pursuing an education in regionally accredited vocational-technical schools.

7. Take a minimum of 12 hours per semester/be a full-time student.

The deadline to apply for this year's ACS scholarship is Feb. 1.