Words from Willie.

This past semester, my world was shaken by life's uncontrollable events. After a four year battle with medulloblastoma, Pierce Slutzky, a very close friend and teammate on my soccer team for eight years, succumbed to his battle with cancer. After years of pool parties, soccer practices, and late nights playing Xbox, my teammates and I were forced to face the realities of life as we buried someone we considered a brother. No seventeen year old should ever have to bury a friend. Just two months later, after the tragic death of Pierce, my own sister, Lizzy, was diagnosed with Hodgkin's Lymphoma several days before her twenty-first birthday. I was in a state of shock. My older sister who I live with, look up to, and love so dearly had been afflicted by a disease so rare and deadly. In the midst of such chaos and sadness, I couldn't help but notice her optimism and positive mindset. Despite an unpredictable future looming ahead of her and the loss of an incredible opportunity to study abroad during her junior year at college, Lizzy has remained calm and stayed determined to fight. She has instilled in me vital values and new perspectives. First, I have taken into account how turbulent and impermanent life truly is. Lizzy's experiences have helped me focus on the big picture of life, instead of tiny, irrelevant things that we often get caught up in. As someone who has always cared so much about my hair, I will be shaving it off to stand in solidarity with my sister through her journey in chemotherapy. Losing my hair will not alter my ability to be happy, pursue my goals, and continue to be the person I am today. After encounters with these challenging circumstances, I have become a more evolved person with my outlook on my future, and I hope to leave a mark on others, just like Pierce and Lizzy have left on me.