| Once upon a time, there was a little girl named Megan who lived in suburban Detroit with her mommy and her daddy and her cat, Squirt. The little girl was her parents' pride and joy-an unexpected surprise who made their lives complete. They lived in a lovely farmhouse, where aunts and uncles and cousins gathered for birthdays, holidays and even for no reason at all. Megan's home was happy and her story was just like a fairy tale.
 But one day, doctors started to use the word “cancer,” and within the span of 17 months, Megan's life was changed forever.
Clearly, while Megan’s loss would be the most profound, her circumstances would impact an entire family. “I realized then that my life was not my own,” Kathleen says. “God was using me as an instrument to assemble the family that he was creating for us.
 “I definitely have made some mistakes – like our first Christmas when we decorated the tree and Megan went to the basement in tears rather than hang ornaments with us. I asked her what was wrong and she said, ‘None of the ornaments belonged to me.’ I felt just awful! How I wished I had thought to get her Christmas ornaments before then.” Kathleen still fights the guilt of knowing that Megan felt hurt.
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 “All her life, people have commented on Megan’s joyful spirit,” Kathleen says. “They say she never seems to have a bad day – but of course, she’s already had more bad days than most kids see in a lifetime. She has a perspective many people never learn.”
Somehow, Megan never succumbed to the grief her early life suggested. At Lansing Catholic Central, she was an excellent student and cheerleader, known as a positive presence in her community. A beautiful girl inside and out, Megan was chosen “prom queen” last spring, just before graduating with honors. She’s now a freshman at St. Mary’s College at Notre Dame and thinks one day she’ll be a doctor.
This is just the beginning! Immerse yourself as the author weaves an incredible story of reliance on faith, family, and friends and how these relationships empowered this Irish Catholic family to transform unimaginable loss into triumph over a disease that attempted to shatter them.
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