Bravery comes in many forms. Hannah Powell-Auslam showed true grit in her fight against breast cancer before even reaching her teens.
The Californian, now 11, is believed to be the youngest breast cancer survivor in the country, and her strength is inspiring. On Friday, she appeared on Good Morning America and shared her brave struggle.
Hannah’s world fell apart last April when a little inch on the then 10-year-old’s chest turned into a lump on her still-forming breast, and she and her parents received the impossible-to-believe news that it was a malignant tumor.
“Her first question was, ‘Am I going to die?’” her mother, Carrie Auslam, told GMA’s Robin Roberts, herself a breast cancer survivor.
“I was just — how can this happen?” Hannah told GMA last May when she first appeared on the show. “I just want to be a normal kid. I want to go back to school, play sports, hang out with my friends.”
But first she had to endure a lot of medical intervention. Doctors struggled to develop a treatment plan for someone so young, but finally did. Now, after tumor removal, a mastectomy, the removal of four cancerous lymph nodes under her arm and 12 long weeks of chemotherapy, she is now cancer-free.
Although the struggle almost seemed too much at times, Hannah and her family were determined to move forward, even throwing a party with her friends when she needed to shave off her hair during chemo.
GMA also surprised her with new dolls from American Girl and lunch for her and her family at the store’s restaurant.
Not that she completely needed the gift. She had already received the best gift of all, the gift of life.
Photo courtesy of alwyck via stock.xchang.
