She was 10 years old. She got kicked in the leg, during P.E. class. No big deal. Happens all the time. But her leg started doing weird things. Something was definitely wrong.

“My leg started swelling, almost the size of a baseball,” she remembers.

Her name is Coraliz. They took her to the doctor. Did some tests. It was osteosarcoma. Bone cancer. Not good.

She was referred to St. Jude to receive treatment. When Coraliz’s family carried her through the doors of the massive hospital, it was like entering a warzone, mentally.

The fear was overwhelming. A heavy, black terror rested on her shoulders. A burden no 10-year-old should have to bear. And yet each year, about 16,000 kids diagnosed with pediatric cancer will bear this weight.

They showed Coraliz to her room. For the next nine months of chemotherapy, she would live right here. This was home now.

Not long thereafter, Coraliz had surgery to amputate one of her legs. Her family stayed by her side. There was a lot of crying involved.

When a child loses a piece of his or her body, everyone goes into grieving mode. Psychologists say, losing a piece of your body can sometimes be similar to losing a loved one. You’re losing a living thing.

She started doing a lot of artwork. Landscapes, flowers, symbolic artwork. One of her paintings features a network of hands, reaching out, decorated with different designs.

“This piece represents healing hands everywhere,” she says. “The support we receive from friends, family and those who care.”

Perhaps, the hand painting represents something else, too. Namely, one of Coraliz’s nurses. A particular nurse that Coraliz will never forget.

One night, the nurse entered her room. The woman went through the usual nightly nursing duties. Coraliz was watching carefully as the nurse changed intravenous lines, gave injections, drew blood, checked stats, and performed her routine with ease.

The woman was an amputee. She was missing her hand. “Nobody even noticed because she did it perfectly,” said Coraliz.

That was a long time ago. Life marches forward. When doctors said there was no evidence of cancer left in her body, it felt like the end of a long, LONG road for Coraliz.

After she returned to normal life, things were different. She wasn’t your typical kid after that. Oh, she might have looked and acted like a regular girl, but she was anything but ordinary. She was pure empathy.

It was in high school that Coraliz realized what she wanted to do with the rest of her life. She gravitated toward science.

Today, Coraliz is a medical laboratory scientist. She analyzes blood and bacteria samples for pediatric patients and adult patients. She is the hero behind the scenes who informs doctors.

Medical lab science is a highly stressful job, with zero room for error. Coraliz handles it well. She spends long hours at incubators, analyzers, centrifuges, and microscopes, double checking and triple checking lab results.

It’s safe to say, Coraliz works harder than your typical lab scientist. Many of her coworkers can’t figure out where her drive comes from. But if you ask her, she’ll tell you plainly. Although when she answers, it won’t be Grown-Up Coraliz speaking. It will be the 10-year-old girl who lives inside her.

“I remember that at St. Jude, if your lab results were good, you could go home for a week to see your family… That’s why I work so hard.”