Local teen fights cancer, wants to give back
It was Fernanda’s senior year of high school and she was just a few months away from graduation.
She wanted to be a doctor and was excited for the new adventure college would bring, but all of that changed from one day to the next.
“I started with a pain in my arm, but you start thinking oh it’s because I slept bad,” said Fernanda Madrigal, recipient of Dancing for a Dream.
Days passed by and the pain continued.
After several doctor’s visits and tests, it was clear that Fernanda’s pain was something severe.
” We were outside on the porch of my house. I was crying, her dad was crying, the whole family was crying. Fernanda got home, and we told her that her pain and the bump on her right arm was a tumor, ” Diana Rocha Madrigal, Fernanda’s mom.
Fernanda had osteosarcoma .
She stopped going to school and began her treatment at Rady Children’s Hospital in San Diego.
” We didn’t know if she would lose her arm. The doctor said he wouldn’t know until he opened up her arm during surgery, ” said Madrigal.
The possibility of Fernanda waking up from surgery and not having her arm was unfathomable, but saving her life was all that mattered.
Surgery turned out to be a success. The doctor was able to remove Fernanda’s cancerous bone and replace it with a prosthetic.
“It’s a second opportunity it’s an experience that she can share with others,” said Madrigal.
Fernanda is now on the road to recovery and she is back in school, but this time as a college student and with an even bigger dream, to be a nurse at Rady Children’s Hospital.
” I realized that the nurses are the ones that get to help and spend time with the patients. The doctors don’t get to be with the patients as much, ” said Fernanda .
“What all the nurses gave to her during her time there, she will now be able to give back to these children,” said Madrigal.
Fernanda says she is grateful to Bailando por un Sueno and for all the love they have shown her and kids just like her.
The Madrigal family is one of six local families that the Bailando por un Suneo “Dancing for a Dream” organization and dance competition is raising funds for.
Copyright 2018 KYMA
