Sara Schafer, 23, a Millsboro resident and single mother of a toddler, says that two years ago cancer changed her life “for the better.” It helped her find a career in the medical field, and it helped her bring her neighbors closer to God.

It was a sign from God that her Hodgkin’s lymphoma was diagnosed in the early stages, Sara says, recounting the day she experienced such a horrible, sharp pain in her chest that she rushed to the Beebe Medical Center Emergency Department. The physician did not find out what was causing the pain (which miraculously disappeared a few hours later), but he did find cancer. “God didn’t want me to die,” Sara says.

Through her therapy Sara struggled to take care of her little daughter, Kailee, and she was later told that her determination motivated everyone around her. Sara also discovered that she wanted to become a surgical technologist, and she has been taking classes at Star Technical Institute in Dover. Sara, the youngest of eight children, has received vast support from her parents and brothers and sister. “My mother is my best friend and my father is my hero.”

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