Andrew Edick

2023 Scholarship Winner

The Impact of Little Pink

Motivation is one of the most influential factors in how your life can turn out, do you turn around when you run up to that first hill, or is the looming mountain behind it that causes you to hightail it? Your motivation – the lush greenery, behind that mountain, of fields you can’t even see – is what allows you to stare down and overcome your challenges. Yet the enemy that you have to face is not a physical one, it’s one that is constantly accompanying you, whispering in your ear that you’re not good enough, to turn around and go home.

As a sixth grader I had no true motivation, I was lucky enough to lay in the green pasture, goof around and play at my leisure. I didn’t pay attention in school, the future was too far away to ensnare even a fraction of my attention. Sickness and death belong solely to the old, living in my own utopia. That is until cancer decided to invade my world. One simple breakfast, one word, one moment, that would splinter apart the naive childish veil I had over the world. Suddenly my life got thrown into disarray and chaos. I tried to find calm amidst the hurricane of emotions, something to ground me as the world changed.

Fortunately, my mom must have known that we needed a distraction and happened upon a website, Little Pink House of Hope. They provided a free week vacation with food and activities. She filled out an application and prayed we would be selected. As a family we were lucky enough to be selected to go on a Little Pink retreat. This came at an opportune time, with so many big and little changes taking place, everyone was stressed. My mom was in the thrall of chemo, me and my sister were learning how to take a bigger part in the maintenance of the family, learning how to be more independent. Learning to be independent was one of the few things as a kid that we could do to try and relieve just a smidgen of pressure off of our mother.

The Little Pink retreat was the perfect place to recollect ourselves and find solace in people going through similar situations. We got to stay in a cool vacation home near the ocean that we never would have been able to do without Little Pink House of Hope. I was able to meet kids the same age as me who also had mothers with breast cancer, and befriend them. I know that my mom greatly enjoyed meeting other women going through the same struggles she was. They were able to share their stories, and hear about others’ similar journeys. She was able to form long lasting friendships with many of them.

No matter the challenges thrown at my mom, I never saw her give up, in fact, I only saw her try harder and do everything she could to learn about her sickness, and anything she could do to help herself. She studied medicine, listened to webinars, read articles, attended conferences for doctors, and joined different groups to learn and advocate for metastatic breast cancer. That is the kind of person I want to be when I get older, someone who does not quit, who’s motivated to do the best they can for themselves.

Her actions are truly inspirational and are my motivation to go to college, it’s my
motivation for almost anything. I have been so fortunate to be able to live a comfortable life, never needing to worry about having food on the table or clothes that fit. I wish to be able to provide this life to my own kids in the future. I believe the first step to that wish is going to college, where I plan to study software engineering. I believe that technology is a keystone in our society, and it will continue to grow in importance during the coming years. I want to be an agent of change and help it grow. I am excited to know, as a software engineer, the work I do will be able to be utilized by almost anyone, and I can write code that can help solve nearly any issue. In fact, my mom came home from a breast cancer conference and was talking about the use of artificial intelligence in breast cancer research. With software engineering, there are endless opportunities to use my love for technology to make a difference in the world.

Overall, my goal in life is to make a positive impact on those that I meet. I wish to
provide a stable and happy life for the family I will one day have, and I hope that if I continue to work hard I will be able to help change the world for the good. As my mom always says, “You have to be the good you want to see.” Thank you Little Pink for loving us, leading by example and helping us to create memories that continue to impact our family today.