Josephine Henderson Norton “Adapt and Overcome” Scholarship 11 May 2026 I have always been a positive person. Always smiling at everything, laughing with my friends, being unserious at the wrong times. I wasn't someone to complain, either. Of course there would be something here and there that bothered me, whether it was a mental struggle, a friendship fallout, or a stomach pain that had me curled up in a ball in my parents bed for hours on end. I hung out with friends, went on vacations, applied to college, all through this aching pain that grew larger and more painful as the fall came to a close. My positive attitude could only persist for so long, I couldn't let this continue to eat me alive or be the excuse to not show up for the people I love. After months of covert CT scans, ultrasounds, and x-rays, we finally scheduled a colonoscopy and endoscopy. November 14th, 2025 was the day my life changed forever. The day they found my tumor, which ended up being stage four young onset colorectal cancer. Surgery within the next month. Six months of chemotherapy. Yearly colonoscopies. Questions flashed through my head: Am I going to survive? Am I going to graduate? Am I going to go bald? But then I took a step back to remember the person I am; a positive one. I am not going to let this disease have me, even if I have this disease. So I redirected my perspective back to where it should be. Positive just became sanguine. Going to chemotherapy wasn't a fearful appointment, it was a fearless step closer to being done. In all honesty, skipping school for a long nap didn’t sound too bad. And I didn't lose my hair! I realized that my resilience wasn't built after the hardship, I had built it way before my diagnosis. I just didn’t know how to shine through the darkness yet. The positivity I carried before my diagnosis became my strength I needed for the next few months. I wonder what would've happened if I let this darkness consume me, rather than choosing to be the light. As I write this, this week will be my tenth chemotherapy out of twelve and I have never been more excited as I get closer to my final treatment, June 10th. I thank God for letting me continue to be a positive person even through this diagnosis, because all props to faith and hope, I could never let something negative take over my life. I may have cancer, but I am not letting cancer have me.