Alexis Williams is a teenager who was given some devastating news.
"About two years ago, I first found out that I had leukemia," teen cancer survivor Alexis Williams said.
It is a rare form, and after going through chemotherapy, it returned.
"You never think that it's going to be you,” Williams said. “It was hard for me because it was my senior year, and I thought I was going to do all the senior stuff and fun, but it did get taken away from me.”
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But through her journey, there was a blessing. She needed a bone marrow transplant and found not one donor but two in her own home.
"My sister and my brother came back to match,” Williams said. “100 percent match."
This was exciting news for her siblings.
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"When we found out that me and Aiden were both matches, it was kind of emotional,” her sister Alana Williams said. “We were blessed that me and Aiden were both matches."
"I was happy, and I was excited that I could help my sister out," her brother Aiden Williams said.
Younger brother Aiden was chosen as the donor. An experience that he said brought them even closer together.
"It was a weird experience because, like, once I saw the blood going into my sister, it was kind of like she is a me now,” Aiden said. “It's like another me."
The procedures were done thanks to Children's Health in Dallas. Dr. Tiffany Simms-Waldrip, Associate Professor of Pediatrics at UT Southwestern and Children’s Health, was Alexis' doctor.
She said trying to keep life normal for a teen also helps in recovery.
"Her school was able to host a private graduation for her here in the hospital, so all the nurses and staff, physicians, we were able to kind of partake in that and celebrate that milestone with her," Simms-Waldrip said.
Celebrating the milestones and life is what motivates her.
"Seeing a patient who comes to me very ill with a disease that could be life-threatening and then being a part of that cure that leads them to having a normal life that's why I do it," Simms-Waldrip said.
The Williams family is thankful for every little moment of life together.
"For us it's just one day at a time and just allowing to take in the stuff we missed out on," Alexis’ father, Pete Williams, said.
Now that Alexis has beat cancer, she's focused on her next goal in life.
"Next year, I will be going off to an HBCU, and I'm very excited," Williams said.
To learn more about bone marrow donations, click here.
