Cancer survivor lands scholarship to UCLA

What’s more nauseating than doing homework in high school?

Doing homework while undergoing chemotherapy in high school.

Add to that mix hours of prep time and the stress generated by prestigious but sometimes nefarious advanced placement exams. The AP ordeal can potentially allow driven, talented high schoolers to knock off college credits ahead of time, gain a better foothold to big-name colleges and skip required college classes.

Just ask Miles Reyes, now a senior in the magnet program at Clark High School.

But, while her classmates attended football games and underwent the tortured teachings of adolescence that only high school and APs can offer, the 18-year-old cheerleader embarked on her own journey. Her path involved chemotherapy, radiation, coming to terms with lost hair and steroid-induced weight gain, and witnessing the frustration of her parents and 11-year-old brother as they helplessly witnessed her march through darkness. All while she did homework outside of the classroom and revved up for APs.

Then she landed a scholarship to the University of California, Los Angeles.

“I feel like I did pretty well,” she said, laughing nervously about her AP math test, a few hours after it was over recently. “But you never know.”

When it comes to the number of APs under her belt, she’s “kind of normal” among the people in her special program at school, she insisted. This year, she took advanced placement classes in calculus, English literature and composition, U.S. government and politics, and statistics.

Oh yeah, and last year she took AP classes in psychology, environmental science, U.S. history and English language composition.

But getting the scholarship is different.

“Honestly, I had no idea I would get into UCLA, let alone get a scholarship to UCLA,” she admitted. “And there was no additional application process.”

She was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma when she was 16, in August of 2011. It was the week before her junior year began.

“It was devastating,” she remembered. “Because I was so looking forward to that junior year of seeing everyone again, and just getting back to school, because I kind of get bored during summer sometimes.”

Instead, she spent the first semester of her junior year — about five or six months — staving off cancer. The chemo clinic became the hub of her social life. No school. No hanging out with friends. No football games.

Her nurses and doctor became her new best friends. A little less friendly was the chemo itself, which made her head spin whenever she looked at anything, including homework.

Triple that experience every week during the treatment period, add some recovery time, and that was Reyes’ schedule. Recovery time meant a phone call from the teacher — and homework.

“They kind of understood what chemo does to you,” she said. “They were pretty lenient.”

Dr. Alvin Mathews, Nevada Childhood Cancer Foundation’s director of education, a former school principal, and an advocate said, “She perseveres.”

Mathews helped Reyes bridge the gap between illness and school, acting as a liaison with schoolteacher and school coordinator alike.

“She’s been patient through her illness, but she still persevered to keep those grades up and to still be active in her school choir,” he added. “There’s a strength and courage to keep going. Some people might have given up. But she kept the courage to keep going. And she persevered and achieved to be successful in life.”

“She pushed harder, especially at school,” agreed Reyes’ mother, Lourdes Reyes.

So, when the teenager wanted to take summer online courses at the University of Miami to get ahead last year, Mathews helped get her the funding from Nevada Childhood Cancer Foundation.

But she appreciates him for more than that — including the parsing of a vexing problem: whether she’d even be able to return to school.

“Dr. Mathews is basically the person who I could always talk to about how I felt, and how I wanted my education to be while I was out,” she said. “And he’d always come through. He’d always be like, ‘I talked to your teacher, I talked to your coordinator about this. This is what we’re gonna do.’ And he’d always have a plan on how to help.”

When Miles Reyes asked him about college scholarships for cancer survivors, Mathews researched opportunities, e-mailed her an enormous list of options and deadlines, and provided recommendations for them all, she said.

The one-year scholar recognition award Reyes received from UCLA acknowledges her stellar academic achievement, combined with financial need. It also opens the door for future financial support, making possible a superb education, even while Reyes’ family continues paying off hefty medical bills.

“I remember when we got the letter in the mail, I took out the certificate and the paper, and my dad was shaking the envelope, and he’s like, ‘Where’s the check?’ ” she said, laughing. “And I was like, ‘Dad, it doesn’t work that way!’ ”

Reyes said UCLA accepted her into its biochemistry major. Along with other activities, she’s a member of her school’s Health Occupations Students of America club. She plans to become a doctor or go into research. Her goal: to give something back to the cancer community.

Although she’s been in remission for more than a year, Reyes won’t forget where she’s been.

“Hearing the words, ‘Uh, I’m sorry, you have cancer,’ doesn’t ever really go away,” she said.

Weekly counseling at the Nevada Childhood Cancer Foundation helped. So did all the times she cried alone at home, assuring herself it was OK.

But cancer has left its impression. She can’t be outside in the sun too long. She can no longer tumble or do crazy cheerleader stunts. She’s had to adjust. Then again, that’s not all the cancer left behind.

“I feel like it’s made me more of an optimistic, driven person. I think it taught me that challenges will come and go in your life, but if you have the right mindset, you can overcome anything,” she said of her experience with cancer.

“It brought us closer together,” said her father, Norman Reyes.