My name is Nicole, I am 27 years old. My younger sister Alicia is 24. We grew up in Salt Lake City, Utah with our three older brothers and extended family close by. Our mom passed away at an early time in our lives from Colon Cancer. Losing our mom was an extremely difficult experience, one that to this day is still painful. My sister and I were 16 and 13 at the time and still needed care given by extended family members. We stuck together and our “sister” relationship became very strong and appreciated. My sister Alicia is my best friend. She is the youngest of five children and was always looked at with having such an unconditional loving heart that more than once took care of her older siblings. The word "cancer” itself is terrifying after seeing our mom lose her battle, little did I know, I, Nicole would have a battle of my own to face. I was diagnosed with Breast Cancer when I was 23. Following my diagnosis I underwent a mastectomy of my left breast, followed by many intense treatments of chemotherapy. Going through something of this nature of course added so much stress full of frightened emotions and helplessness. My own feelings and thoughts surrounding my situation I felt could be somewhat controlled by positive thinking and a focused effort on my own recovery. One stress that could not be controlled was the overwhelming medical bills piling up each day so unfortunately I was not in a position to take many days off of work to relax my body and mind. This was noticed by my younger sister Alicia, (Lita), who then took it upon herself to organize a fund-raiser to help aid the overwhelming medical expenses. Hence, Lita's Gift was born....