She fought cancer, now she helps others

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) - On Monday, many in our community sacrificed vanity to help in a good cause.

It's been a long journey for Faith Graham that brought her to go Bald 4 Bucks, the fund drive that raises money for research to fight cancer. At age 11, Faith was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer that creates tumors that can double in size in a 72-hour period.

Roswell Pediatrics Chairman Dr. Martin Brecher said, "It was quite serious. Faith had Burkitt's Lymphoma, an extremely aggressive form of cancer."

Her mother, Kathy Welker, said, "Aggressive it was, and it was hard. She went down to 66 pounds. There just wasn't anything left of her, hardly."

Faith had a couple of close calls with death, but her mother shielded her.

"She didn't want to show me that she was scared, because she didn't want to scare me," recalled Faith.

Welker added, "She knew she had cancer. They told us that was the best thing was to be honest with her and talk about things. We just never discussed that she could die."

After about six months of grueling therapy, she pulled through, and her mother says prayer played a big role.

"Faith, faith. Honestly, I truly believe that God gave the doctors at Roswell Park all the wisdom, and the nurses were so wonderful. Just her excellent care and our faith," said Welker.

19 years later, Faith still spends 40 hours a week at Roswell Park Cancer Institute. But now it's not to receive treatment, but to give it, inspired to become a nurse by the treatment she received while she was a child.

Faith said, "My nurses upstairs took such good care of me and so I kind of want to give back and do the same for my patients."

Patient James Sitarski and his family are grateful to have Faith looking after him.

James's sister, Catherine Kelly said, "That's amazing to me, because as children, once they go through a traumatic experience they don't want to relive it as an adult, so I just can't imagine the courage that's involved with her coming back here and reliving that experience every day to help other people, so it's amazing to me."

And now, the doctor who treated Faith as a child is there to watch her go even another step to help fight cancer. And her mother, a hairdresser in Jamestown, will do the honors of chopping off Faith's locks of hair, even though it took a little courage on her part.

Dr. Brecher said, "It's incredible. I mean, she went through so much and yet she clearly wants to give back for the care that she got and the success that she achieved in her medical care."

Faith's picture is on the bridge outside of Roswell, and her story is helping so many take the path of courage and hope in their fight against cancer.

Faith stated, "There is always hope. People do survive from cancer, and I'm living proof of it."