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My Company

In early 2013, I was crafting and selling jewelry at school and to my friends. I had sourced materials from across the world and shipped them to my house to make my jewelry stand out from the other girls in my area. During this time, my family and I experienced the most difficult and saddening news we've ever received. While making these accessories, a very close family friend went in for a routine doctor's appointment only to come out a few days later with Stage 3 throat and esophageal cancer.

 

Robin was a man that had been close with my family since my dad moved to Atlanta when he was fourteen years old. After receiving this news, Robin and his family seemed hopeless and struggled to pay for basic things like insurance, groceries, and house payments. My family and I vowed to help them in any way we could, and shortly after this decision, this is where my company began coming into play. 

I officially founded my company during Robin's cancer treatment. I began selling every last bit of jewelry inventory I had to Robin's family, friends, supporters, etc. I personally paid off the costs that were needed to cover the supplies for the accessories, and donated every last dollar made to his cancer fund. 

Robin was a very humble man and was never one to be the center of the spotlight. After visiting him during treatment, I told him what  my team and I had been doing to support in any way we could and I brought him to tears. He saw the surrounding community in full support of his recovery, and that's when things began taking a turn for the better.  

After presenting Robin with bracelets of his own, he began wearing them and distributing them to anyone he could. He told me he wore them daily as a reminder that his fight wasn't over and that he still had a full life ahead of him. Slowly but surely, Robin began showing recovery from that day forward. I kept contact with him and his support group biweekly to learn about his remarkable progress. 

On a rainy Sunday afternoon, I had just finished my last homework assignment for the week. I heard my dad coming up the stairs and when he came into the kitchen, he was on the phone and crying. He hung up the phone and looked directly at me and said, "Alexis, Robin beat cancer today". At an instant, an overwhelming feeling of joy came over me and I began crying. After a year and a half long fight with numerous chemo treatments and hospital visits, Robin was finally cancer-free.

 

This man has left an impact on my life that I will never forget. This event makes me passionate about what I do and pushed me to be able to help others through the formation of my company. Seeing the effect I had on Robin reminded me of the type of positive impact I wish to leave not only the people I help and their families, but everyone I will come across.

Along with helping Robin, Aunt Val, another very close family friend was diagnosed with breast cancer during my freshman year at Auburn. My cousin, Sydney, called me balling her eyes out when she found out and I knew how important it was to her and her family that I show my support. 

I began creating "themed" bracelets for her and made them with pink and white colors to give to her family, her supporters, and anyone else who may have wanted them. It was through this small act of kindness that made a huge impact on her mood and her recovery by knowing that she had a community behind her during her treatment. 

Since I was at Auburn during her treatment, I didn't always get a chance to see her. While home from winter break of my sophomore year, I had the privilege to be with her during her last chemo treatment. She had been fighting a long battle and was at the very last struggle before she beat cancer. She was positive and fighting as hard as she could to make sure the chemo didn't wear her down. In the early months of 2016, she beat cancer. I have never been more inspired and proud of someone to be able to stay positive and continue her battle, no matter how hard it got. 

 

Aunt Val continues to give back to the community that supported her during her time of need. She will always be an inspiration to me and someone I strive to be more like each and everyday.

© 2018 by Alexis Cahalan

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