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Teen cancer survivor volunteers for chemo to help others

Cancer ruined Catarina Gomez' future plans, but now she's sacrificing even more in hopes of making the future brighter for other young people.

When 18 year old Catarina Gomez graduated from high school she was certain that she'd go to college and then to law school.

A few months later her life changed course with one trip to the doctor.

"I went in for a headache and then I never came out," Gomez said. "I guess my ten year plan has kind of dissolved."

Gomez now admits it wasn't just one headache, it was a series of escalating headaches she'd avoided talking about for months. Once she sought treatment, she learned her pain was a symptom of a rare, cancerous, brain tumor.

"The name of this tumor is ependymoma," said Christopher Moertel, MD, Pediatric Neuro-Oncologist for University of Minnesota Health. "In her case, she had one cell go crazy, and that one cell turned into millions of cells that became a tumor."

Doctor Christopher Moertel says doctors in Iowa successfully removed Gomez' tumor late last year. She then came to the University of Minnesota to undergo radiation.

Though she was officially cancer-free, Gomez decided not to stop there. She decided to take part in a national study that extended her treatment.

"No matter what we do about 40% of patients will have their tumors come back," Moertel said. "So we're really trying to learn about how we can increase our success. The clinical trial was looking at the difference between patients who had received radiation alone to those who received chemotherapy in addition to radiation."

For Gomez, that meant putting college on hold in order undergo chemotherapy voluntarily.

"She said, 'If this is going to help somebody else I want to do it," Dr. Moertel said. "Which I think is awesome."

"If I can go through chemo in order to help a child who is five or six I have to do it," she said.

Even if doing it, meant she'd lose her hair temporarily and some of her hearing permanently.

"My phrase that I keep saying is such is life," she said. "I'm so lucky to have been put in this situation where I can choose not to receive chemo. I know there are people who are out there that don't (get to choose) because their fight is a lot harder than mine."

Catarina's treatments are now finished, her port is now removed and her hair has returned.

"I really want it to be curly," she said with a laugh. "It will be a new hairstyle."

Though she originally planned to pursue a legal career, Catarina says her time in the hospital has her rethinking her plans. She is now seriously considering medical school.

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