Cancer Survivor Has Raised More Than $30,000 For Hospital That Saved Her Life

Lauren Lewis is now a healthy college student and fashion designer, but she was once fighting for her life while battling cancer.

When Lewis was a little girl, neuroblastoma had caused a tumor the size of a grapefruit on her spine.

Photo: YouTube/TODAY

While the rate of survival for this was 30 percent, the rate for her to survive the treatment was just 20 percent.

Thanks to the amazing doctors and nurses at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and the trial she underwent, Lewis beat the odds.

Photo: YouTube/TODAY

She had surgery to remove the tumor wrapped around her lower spine, and was walking around the hospital just days later.

Although her days battling cancer are now long behind her, Lewis never forgot about the place and the people who saved her life.

Photo: YouTube/TODAY

“I think it’s important to define myself as something other than the girl who had cancer, because there is a lot more to me than that,” Lauren said. “And even when I think about when I had cancer, I don’t really think of it as me being a victim of anything or I don’t want people to feel bad for me. I think of it as something that I’ve overcome.”

While she can never fully repay St. Jude for saving her life, Lewis turned her love of fashion into yearly fashion shows as a way to give back to them.

Photo: YouTube/TODAY

Her first show, called “Sewing into Dreams, with Stitches of Hope,” was when she was just seven years old. The flowy dresses in the show were designs by her and her older sister.

She continued to do these fashion shows over the years, including designs from children all over the country.

Photo: YouTube/TODAY

From 2010-2020, Lewis’ fashion shows raised more than $30,000 for St. Jude!

Hear more of her inspiring story in the video below:

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