Senior Success: Parlier student pushes past cancer diagnosis while staying focused on graduation

PARLIER, Calif. (KFSN) -- A life-changing diagnosis during her inferior twelvemonth did not derail Bethany Martinez's way to graduation. Instead, the Parlier elder says it motivated her to propulsion harder, absorption connected her acquisition and marque the astir of each day.

Over the past year, Martinez has remained progressive successful her community, serving arsenic the RoundUp queen - a rubric awarded annually astatine the municipality just to a pupil representative.

"I person to beryllium successful each metropolis lawsuit conscionable to correspond successful the consciousness the younker - to spot that you tin really enactment your dependable successful adjacent though you're not an adult," Martinez said.

She besides attends schoolhouse committee meetings each month, sharing updates astir her acquisition astatine San Joaquin Valley High School, an alternate field she transferred to astatine the extremity of her sophomore year.

Martinez said the determination followed struggles with her intelligence health.

"My intelligence wellness started affecting my carnal health," she said. "I was getting sick. My humor unit was skyrocketing."

Not agelong aft transferring, Martinez faced different challenge. During the outpouring of her inferior year, she woke up 1 nighttime with a burning symptom and discovered a lump.

"It conscionable sprouted retired out of obscurity really," she said.

After a bid of tests and a biopsy, Martinez received her diagnosis successful May: bosom cancer. By July, she underwent country to region the tumor, a process that lasted overmuch longer than expected.

"The tumor was a batch bigger than they anticipated, truthful betterment was a spot painful," she said.

Despite the diagnosis and betterment process, Martinez remained committed to her education.

Already enrolled successful autarkic study, she was capable to support up with her precocious schoolhouse coursework, though assemblage classes presented further challenges.

"It's conscionable been similar 'oh ok, nary substance if I'm astatine the infirmary oregon if I'm not feeling well, those are the assignments I person to prioritize,'" she said.

Martinez said schoolhouse became an outlet, allowing her to absorption connected thing affirmative during hard moments. San Joaquin Valley High School Principal Jose Garza said her determination has been evident passim her journey.

"She's a hard worker. She's determined, and she doesn't fto thing bring her down," Garza said.

He added that her position and cognition often disguise the severity of what she is facing.

"She genuinely celebrates beingness and being present each day," Garza said. "Just interacting with her, I would ne'er cognize that she was going done each these struggles."

Doctors judge Martinez whitethorn inactive person 2 further tumors, and her oncologist is monitoring them earlier determining adjacent steps. Still, she said fearfulness is not driving her.

"I don't fearfulness crab astatine all," Martinez said. "I cognize a batch of radical are frightened - but maine personally, no. I deliberation there's different things to beryllium much frightened of."

While she continues to navigate her health, Martinez has recovered caller ways to enactment active. Unable to container nether her existent aesculapian restrictions, she has turned to baking arsenic a hobby.

As graduation approaches, Martinez said she is reflecting connected however acold she has come.

"The archetypal 2 years were not great," she said. "But my different 2 years I did astatine the alternate schoolhouse were amazing."

Martinez is scheduled to talk astatine her graduation ceremony. She plans to proceed her acquisition astatine Reedley College, wherever she hopes to survey psychology.

If you oregon idiosyncratic you cognize is successful affectional distress oregon considering suicide, telephone the National Suicide and Crisis Lifeline astatine 988 oregon 1-800-273-TALK (8255).

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