Kaiser-Permanente photo of Shelby MakrisA high school junior’s life was turned upside down. But she was determined to not fall into depression. 

“I could no longer attend school and my life became a balancing act between doctor’s appointments and studying at home,” wrote Shelby Makris in a special for the Los Angeles Times. “I had a choice to make: Delve into depression or grasp the opportunities I still had to make the most of them. I decided to go for it.”

She completed every assignment that her classmates were given, she upped the capacity of her charity work (ironically, she was president of her school’s Make-a-Wish Foundation club), and every day she is getting a little bit healthier.

“I have proved to myself that I am a much stronger person than I thought I was.”

(READ her essay in the LA Times)

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