Freshman Libero Erika Smith, an 18-year-old nursing major, has been playing volleyball for eight years yet she faced her toughest opponent in June 1999 when she was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia.
Smith was diagnosed with Leukemia following her eighth birthday. After a fall off a chair led to difficulties walking a couple weeks later, she went to see a doctor. Following an X-ray, a cast was put on her leg. Though she had a fever as well, Smith and her family never connected the two. An MRI would reveal that her bone marrow in her knee was being pushed out.
Smith’s doctor called informing her and her family to pack their bags and head to UCLA hospital where her mother would find out some very difficult news on a piece of paper. Her mother saw that the paper said Smith had Leukemia.
Smith didn’t know exactly what was going on concerning her own health, but was scared nonetheless.
“I was just sitting there in a wheelchair,” she said. “I didn’t know what was going on. I thought it was scary because I saw a bunch of people throwing up.”
The next day Smith would begin her treatment as well as her two-and-a-half year journey to recovery. Her journey would have its fair share of difficult moments, mainly centered on her family.
Smith’s relationship with her sister was tough during her illness because both wanted what the other had.
“Me and my sister fought a lot because I would get a whole bunch of gifts, and she got to play sports…so it was hard on my house, it was harder on my family than me,” Smith said.
These times were also hard on her older sister who had a different mother and would often leave the house and stay with her biological mother because she couldn’t take the stress at home.
Her parents had a particularly hard time dealing with the illness because they would be the ones who had to force Smith to take the medicine.
“It was really hard on them because they were the ones who had to force me to take pills,” she said. “I could not swallow pills for the life of me. It was so bad they had to crush and put them in chocolate syrup.”
Smith also said that her parents would even take more drastic measures in order to get her to take her medication, which made it even more hard on them.
“They would tie me in a blanket and put my arms down and force it down my throat,” she said. “And that was sort of a day to day routine, and that made it stressful on them.”
Even with her struggles to get healthy Smith never thought about giving up on volleyball. In fact, it was what drove her to get healthy.
“I know it was a drive,” she said. “I wanted to go back and play because its what I love to do.”
Today, she is a member of the Moorpark College women’s volleyball team, playing the game she loves.
Smith now has no trace of cancer in her body, but still goes to the doctors once a year for checkups, and once every two years for a survivor clinic where she is interviewed for more information on how to help people.
Though Smith feels Leukemia made her who she is today, she does not want anyone else to have to experience what she experienced.
“I know I don’t want anyone else to go through what I did, it just made me who I am,” Smith said.
