On July 19, 1999, my mom (Trisha Rohleder), was teaching summer school. She was standing in the doorway of her supervising principal having a conversation with him, when she had a grand mal seizure. Trisha was rushed to the hospital. I am the oldest of the two kids and had just turned four in June of the same summer. My younger sister had just turned six months old about a month before mom has her seizure. Trisha was transported to KU med center, she was diagnosed withstand 4 anaplastic astrocytomia. She was given 6 months to live. Due to the circumstances Trisha chose to do a trial study for treatment. She went through one surgery. Where the doctors were able to take out some of the tumor but not all of it. Following surgery she had to go through physical therapy and occupational therapy. She then did 18 months of very intense chemo and radiation treatments. In 2001, Trisha received the news that she the tumor was gone. In October of this year, it will mark her 14th anniversary. Trisha has always said that she had two girls and a husband to fight for. As her daughter I remember all of the days and nights of visits to see mom. The days of going to appointments with her. She still has checkups every 6 months. The cancer treatments were so lethal, it has caused many other surgeries, but nothing that Trisha and the rest of our family has been unable to deal with. This event has caused so much for our family. It has caused pain, tears, and now it brings us joy and happiness every single day. We are truly blessed to have my mom in our lives. Trisha was told she would never see my sister and I grow up, graduate, get married. Yet she has devoted her life to us, and the kids she teaches every single day at her school. My mom is truly one of the biggest inspirations anyone could ask for.