As a St. Jude patient, I have met more than 33 country music stars. One of my favorite experiences began at a Country Cares event in January of 2015. I was 16 and had recently finished 33 rounds of treatment for brain cancer.
This treatment did not cause all of my hair to fall out – just a portion. I could still cover the spot with the hair I still had. Because of this (and a fake spray tan), I did not look like the rest of the patients at the event.
This did not phase me until country music star, Kelsea Ballerini, walked up and said “Hey you look familiar. What songs do you sing?” She thought I was an artist participating in Country Cares.
When I told her I was a patient, we both laughed, talked the rest of the night, and created an ever-lasting friendship. A few months later in July, 2015, my brain cancer relapsed, and I had to go through more surgery and treatment.
Less than two days after recovering from surgery, I came home to find Kelsea Ballerini and our friend, Megan Boardman, waiting there to surprise me. We hung out and did fun things that normal friends would do, making me feel so special and loved.
As I continued my treatment and lost all of my hair, Kelsea posted a video on YouTube asking me to be her date for the Country Music Association awards in Nashville. The CMAs are a televised event that almost every country music star attends. Of course I agreed to be her date, then got to experience the best night of my life.