About Amanda

Amanda was such a ray of sunshine. She was so much fun to be around and brought much love, life and laughter into our home. She had the most beautiful contagious smile and a vibrant outgoing personality. She was kind and loving and extremely generous. She was a fiercely competitive athlete with a passion for running and a tremendous love for the game of basketball. She led by example, strived to be the best and always gave 100% to everything she did. She was a planner with dreams of attending UGA and then becoming a teacher. She had great faith and trusted that God would take care of her. She was strong willed and by far the toughest person we knew. She was our 17 year old daughter, and cancer took her from us.

Our world stopped turning in March 2009 when Amanda was diagnosed with cancer at the age of 16. Upon diagnosis, we found out that she had stage IV cancer called Rhabdomyosarcoma. She had a tumor in the bladder and it had metastasized to the lungs and bones.

She endured 14 rounds of chemo, 30 rounds of radiation and numerous blood transfusions. She was declared CANCER FREE in January of 2010 but only 3 weeks later, the cancer returned. She had a tumor in her neck and it was intertwined in her spinal cord. She had surgery to remove the tumor and endured an additional 25 rounds of radiation on her neck. Amanda never fully recovered from the relapse. The cancer continued to spread to her entire spinal cord and coated her brain. She entered the hospital for the last time on March 27th and went home to live with Jesus on April 9th.

During Amanda's 405 day battle with cancer, she still attended school and church every chance she got and somehow managed to keep smiling that beautiful smile. Amanda was a fighter if there ever was one. She always gave 100% to everything she did and fighting cancer was no exception. She suffered immensely but always kept the faith and fought the good fight but was not able to beat cancer.