My Black Belt Journey
y Taekwondo journey started out extremely normal. I joined when I was 12 years old and instantly fell in love with it. I started climbing the ranks very quickly. I had not failed a rank test at all, I loved it. I started up in the leadership program when I became a camouflage belt. I fell in love with that class as well. I formed so many close relationships with people over the years. The time eventually came to test for my black belt - it was only a month away when I started to feel sick. A few days later I was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia (a rare form of blood cancer). I was devastated. All the time and effort I put into getting my black belt just vanished before my eyes. All I could think about was, even if I survive, it will be years till I am healthy enough to test.
Months went by and I was still in protective isolation at the hospital. It seemed at that point that nothing would be able to lift my spirits. Until I got an unexpected visitor - Mr. Davidson Sr. entered my room with a smiling face as he always does. Immediately I was filled with joy. He sat down with me for a while and we talked about how everyone was doing back at the academy. He said that everyone was very worried about me, and all I wanted to do was to go see them. I told him that the next time I was out on pass from the hospital I would come see everyone. But unfortunately my health had different plans. I was taken into the Intensive Care Unit due to kidney failure. My body started shutting down and I came very close to going into cardiac arrest. I was put into a medically induced coma and started on dialysis. I stayed in the ICU for over a week before I was able to go back up to the cancer ward.
Once my treatment was going along better, my hopes and dreams of testing for my black belt came with it. I was still in the hospital but I could still imagine my black belt coming down from the wall and being tied around my waist. I had to go through many challenging obstacles during my cancer journey. Once I finally got out of the hospital it was nothing like I had hoped it to be. Even though my cancer was gone I was still very sick, I was behind in school, I was depressed, stressed, and my responsibilities hit me like a ton of bricks. I knew I was not going to be able to test any time soon.
Over a year of being out of active treatment I am proud to be receiving my black belt. The moments I have spent at this academy working towards this moment are memories that will last me a lifetime. Thank you to everyone that supported me through my difficult time, and thank you to my amazing instructors for bestowing this honor upon me.