Five months ago, Amanda Robison says her world was crumbling down. She and her husband were out of work, they didn't have a car or enough money for their six children.
On top of that, doctors told her she had a rapidly-growing brain tumor.
Robison says two medical centers denied her help because she had no medical insurance and children but one finally agreed to help save her life.
"I thought I was dying, I'll be dead in a couple months," said Robinson who believed her stage four cancer diagnosis was a death sentence. "I cried and cried and cried myself to sleep so many times because I'm not ready to die, I don't want to die, but being here now it makes me feel good."
Robison received treatment free of charge from the Comprehensive Blood and Cancer Center, which has vast community outreach resources. The center treated Robison without medical insurance, handled all her paperwork, and expensive radiation and chemotherapy.
Robison soon got great news that her grade four tumor was now just scar tissue.
"Fortunately, she completed all of her treatment, she's now in remission, and now has to be started on maintenance treatment for ongoing support and control over cancer," said Dr. Ravi Patel, the CBCC medical director.
Now, Robison just needs to take two pills a day for one week a month for 18 months.
"Things are a lot better now than they were before I got better news," she said.
Her recovery is also a relief for Robison's husband as well, who says he can go back to work now that his wife is doing better and can take care of their young daughters.
"We were at our end. There's no words to explain how we feel now," said her husband Matt Robison. "Me and my kids can spend the rest of our lives with their mom and my wife."
Robison is waiting for her hair to grow back but says she owes her life to the CBCC.
Robison was chosen to be the torchbearer for the Taft's Relay For Life luminaria ceremony silent lap this Saturday.
