Tiffany Ross, 17, of Buckhannon, received itinerary for her dream vacation in Cape San Blas, Florida Monday, four years after she was diagnosed with cancer.
“It’s very nice to get over stressful situations and just go and relax,” Tiffany said, speaking of her upcoming vacation at the beach house with her family and best friend.
Teaming up with The Independent Insurance Agents of West Virginia, The Make-A-Wish Foundation made the trip possible.
It comes four years after she was diagnosed with Ewing’s Sarcoma, a cancer that doctors found on the base of her spine.
“I had a lot of back problems,” Tiffany recalled of the pain and diagnosis shortly before her 13th birthday. “I was diagnosed with Ewing’s Sarcoma on my T-12 vertebra, which is just at the base of your spine.”
What followed was eight months of treatments, with stays at hospitals in Morgantown, Philadelphia, and Pittsburgh.
“It was hard, just because you were never sure of the outcome, and that was a scary thought,” Gillian Ross, Tiffany’s sister, said.
But Tiffany’s strength never wavered.
“She held her head up,” Gillian explained. “She marched right through it. I think she was probably the strongest one of us.”
Tiffany’s future looks bright. Her cancer is in remission and her prognosis is good.
In the fall, she plans on attending Pierpont Community and Technical College, where she’ll study culinary arts.
But in the short term, Tiffany and her family are focused on just getting away in late July, and putting the treatments behind them.
“I’m looking forward to some family time,” Tiffany said, with a big smile.