Like most American teenagers, 17-year-old Amber Martin from Pennsylvania dreamed of going to prom. She longed to wear the floor length gown, don a corsage and dance with her high school sweetheart.
The only thing is, Amber has cancer.
The teenager even feared she wouldn’t live to make it to her high school prom, so her friends threw an ‘early prom’ so she wouldn’t miss out.
She told her local newspaper: ‘I didn't think I'd be here for the prom… We didn't think I'd make it to May. That sounds morbid, but...’
Amazingly, Amber has defied her doctors and managed to put up the fight against cancer long enough to make it to her high school dance.
She planned on going with her good friend Quinn, and bravely attended the dance without her wig and in her beautiful prom dress.
‘I'm excited… I'm sure my friends will be glad to see me, but I'm going for Quinn, not for anybody else. It's me and Quinn's night. My other friends have their own dates.’
Quinn said: ‘I was worried that she was not going to be physically able to go, but she's been good the past two weeks, so I'm happy.’
Amber suffers from stage 4 astrocytoma and has been undergoing intense radiation sessions. Though the tumour in her back has shrunk, she has since been told the cancer has spread to her brain.
Her mum says: ‘She has a very strong faith and she has a firm belief that when she goes, she will be reunited with her dad… She's not afraid to die, but people need to understand she's not ready to go tomorrow.’
‘We all know that her days are, unfortunately, limited… We just want to make each day as happy for her as we can. We want to let her experience life as a teenager as normally as possible.’
What an inspirational young woman.