(This story was first published in 2004 on the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance Web site. Today, Sarah Larson is 15 and a freshman at Gig Harbor High School.)

Twelve-year-old Sarah Larson appears the picture of health with her chubby cheeks, peachy skin and joyful smile, but she's come a long way in the past few years. You probably wouldn't guess that she had spent a year going through grueling treatments for acute myelocytic leukemia (AML).

Sarah was only 8 when she got sick. The first signs were vague, her mother, Julianna, recalled. Sarah was tired; she lost weight. She had an ear infection, pain in her leg and a sinus infection. She was treated with antibiotics, but Julianna still worried. During a return trip to the doctor in 1998, Sarah was diagnosed with leukemia.

Sarah was quickly admitted to Children's Hospital and Regional Medical Center, where she received chemotherapy as an inpatient for a year while the search began for a bone-marrow donor. Her 14-year-old brother, Kalen, was an exact match, and Sarah moved to Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center for the transplant.

Sarah continued as an inpatient at the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance for four months, getting daily infusions, dealing with infections and pneumonia — all common problems for transplant patients.

Once she was released from the hospital, Sarah continued treatment on an outpatient basis until January 1999.

Sarah comes to the SCCA every three months for follow-up appointments. And because the heavy chemotherapy she received destroyed her pituitary gland and ovaries, Sarah is scheduled to begin a course of growth hormones to help her develop normally. Looking back at how this experience has changed their lives, Sarah said she used to be shy, but no longer. Julianna added with tears in her eyes: "Nothing scares her. She's not afraid of anything anymore."

Read more about Acute Myelomonocytic Leukemia