BrenShavia Jordan | Broadcast Reporter
San Antonio freshman Sequoia White began to feel stiff and fatigued at the age of 16. After many visits to the doctor and a trip to the emergency room, doctors discovered stage 4 Non-Hodgkin’s T-cell Lymphoma.
After being placed in a medically induced coma for 30 days, White woke up and has been eager to live life to its fullest since. Now, two years later she is thriving at Baylor as a freshman biology major.
White returns home to San Antonio for chemotherapy on occasion. However, she hopes to move her treatments to Baylor Scott and White to be closer to campus.
White shares her story and some of the lessons she has learned to help others in similar situations.
“It is really easy to get bogged down with why me, why is this happening and what am I going to do attitude,” White said. “I think I have really learned how important faith is in my life. How when you have nothing, you’re so sick and your health is gone, what you can do is gone, God really has you in that moment.”
Dr. Leigh Greathouse Assistant Professor of Nutrition Science shares a similar story. She experienced intense stomach pains at the age of 24, and later was diagnosed with stage IV Uterine Leiomyosarcoma. Now, as a cancer survivor Greathouse does lab research in hopes to prevent cancer. As a scientist who also follows Christ, she hopes to give others the motivation and encouragement to overcome difficult situations.
“By the grace of God, I survived,” Greathouse said.
“I felt like I was put here to not only help others understand how to prevent cancer or improve their treatment response during cancer but to help others in general go through this difficult time in life,”
With a passion for diet and nutrition, Greathouse shares how a simple diet can help prevent cancer.
“I know it sounds simple and people don’t want to hear that,” Greathouse said. “It’s really as simple as eating most of your food from fruits and vegetables and whole grain. That is really, if you boil all the literature down to it, the main thrust of the literature in using diet to prevent cancer.”
