From Cancer Treatment to Graduation Triumph

One day during the fall semester of 2017, Saville Sullivan returned to The University of Alabama to see banners decorating every Greek house on Sorority Row.

“Pray for Sullivan” and “Sullivan Strong” were what a few stated.

The now 23-year-old senior, who graduates with honors this month, said that was one of her happiest days.

“I had such a great support system at UA and through my sorority, Kappa Delta,” said Saville Sullivan, who’s from Albany, Georgia.

Saville Sullivan’s education had been interrupted in August 2016 when she was diagnosed with stage 4 medulloblastoma, a type of malignant brain cancer.

To make matters worse, her younger sister, Lilia Sullivan, had also been diagnosed with brain cancer — stage 3 astrocytoma — just three weeks before.

“The news was really hard, very emotional. Not just for me but for my family as well.”

Tom Sullivan, her dad, said the news was beyond comprehension.

“It’s a parent’s worst nightmare times two,” he said. “It’s very rare to have two daughters be diagnosed with two different types of brain cancer at the same time, especially when there’s no genetic link determining why. But as bizarre as this was, it’s equally impressive that they’re healthy as they are today and in remission.”

While being treated at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, Saville Sullivan encountered a child life specialist who explained to her what a port was, using a doll. She thought the woman’s job was “really cool” and decided she would switch her major from speech pathology to child life.

Her cancer went into remission in July 2017 and she returned to the Capstone the following semester. She received a Fair Hope Foundation Scholarship for students with cancer, and UA’s Office of Disability Services worked with her to provide necessary accommodations to help her to succeed academically.

But readjustment was still challenging.

“I came back to UA in the beginning of my junior year, which was hard because I was bald and had a little limp because I had neuropathy from the chemo and surgery,” she said. “I went to rehab and physical training and now I can run again, but it took another year of recovery.

“In terms of others who helped me with emotional support at the University, I was a patient at the Student Health Center and became close to Dr. Susan Arnold.

“Socially, I barely had eyebrows and my hair was gone, so it was hard to get back into that sphere of being a college student.”

But through it all she’s triumphed, her daddy said. He’s proud of her and she’s happy.

“There were a lot of times when I was sad, asking ‘why did this happen to me?’ But then I’d go back to my faith and rest in the understanding that everything happens for a reason. For me, the reason for all this is that it caused my relationship with God to grow deeper, and it led me to this career path to help children, which I had never even heard of, and now I love it.”