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April

by Amanda from Minnesota

My sister, April, is my one of my many heroes. She was born in Brainard, Minnesota. I was at the hospital with my mom and I got the honor of naming my beautiful baby sister. Of course, since I was four, I named her after April from the Ninja Turtles. She was perfect in every sense of the word. A little while after April was born, our mom and dad got a separation. September of 1995 brought our family a new surprise....Arica. My mom and dad were almost legally divorced when Arica was born. My dad thought, because of the new baby, we should be with my mom. After we got a little older my mom and dad went back to court and my dad got custody of us. Some bad stuff happened and we ended up going to live with our mom in Mora.

When April was 10, my mom noticed a large bump on the side of her face by her ear. She took pictures and took April to the doctor. No one could figure out what it was. We ended up taking her to a specialist in Minneapolis. They ran a bunch of tests and figured out it was a very rare disease, I am not sure how to say it or spell it. This disease usually targets African American athletes in their feet. My white, non athletic, sister got it in her face. She went to the doctor once every six months for a biopsy, for two years. Not once did she every cry or whine or complain. When the doctors decided what they could do for treatment, we went back. My mom, dad and April decided to have surgery done to remove the tumor. Like any surgery, there were risks, if they made even the slightest wrong move, the left side of my sister's face would droop. She would have no feeling and no control of that side of her face. When me, my mom and my sister Arica started to cry, April said it will be alright. She was on her way to surgery and she was consoling us. I would call that brave. She had the surgery, nothing went wrong. We still went back every six months for a check up.

About two years after her first disease, she got really sick again. She gained a lot of weight, and she developed a large bump in her throat. We took her back to the doctor and they sent us back to Minneapolis. They discovered it was Graves disease. Again a rare disease for a young girl. When someone has Graves disease, their white blood cells attack their thyroid. So the large bump in her throat was her goiter swelling. It messes with your hormones, that was why she was so sad, and gained so much weight. After she gained all the weight, lots of rumors were spread around our school. Kids were saying April was pregnant. She went home every night crying, but held her head high at school. She denied all the rumors but the kids wouldn't stop. I couldn't be quiet any more and watch those brats make my baby sister cry. I went to school and every kid that made her cry either got punched in the face or they got threatened. I am not proud of losing my temper, but those kids were ruthless. That was the only thing that got them to stop. The doctors told us our only options were radioactive iodine therapy. They would give my sister a pill that would kill her thyroid. She would have nothing to control her hormones. If they didn't give her enough she could get thyroid cancer, but if they gave her too much she could die. She did the therapy, killed her thyroid, and now she will be on pills to do the job her thyroid was supposed to do, for the rest of her life.

My baby sister has been abused, teased and had her life on the line. She is brave, kind and loving. She never takes anything for granted, especially her life. She is smart, and funny, and sweet. These are just some of the reasons April is my hero.

Page created on 10/26/2008 12:00:00 AM

Last edited 10/26/2008 12:00:00 AM

The beliefs, viewpoints and opinions expressed in this hero submission on the website are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the beliefs, viewpoints and opinions of The MY HERO Project and its staff.

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