A promising athlete, 12-year-old Jessica Grace Mastan was struck with a pain in her hip after falling during a soccer game. She was diagnosed with a rare and aggressive bone cancer, Ewing’s sarcoma.

The five months she spent in chemotherapy failed to treat her condition. She faced a decision that could save her life, but leave her crippled as well. Jessica was very active and involved in running, sprinting, swimming, basketball, soccer and dance. Despite the likely possibility that the surgery, which would remove half her pelvic bone, would end her career in sports, she bravely faced the surgery.

Despite the odds, Jessica set a record for recovering in 17 days. Doctors also told her it would take her a year to walk, but she again defied the odds and did it in six months.

Jessica no longer needed the ramp her family built to assist her and her father decided to tear it down. Urging her on to destroy it to take out her anger and frustration, Jessica told him that she wasn’t angry.

However, despite taking on the odds, Jessica passed in March 2010 at age 14 due to a massive stroke. Her refusal to give in to cancer is an inspiration to all of us at Here to Serve