ORANGE PARK – After winning her two-year battle with childhood cancer, 18-year-old Aya Osman will take on a new challenge – college.

Once considered too far out of reach, Osman is excited to announce she will be attending New York University in the fall and will be cancer-free.

Her dream is made possible in part by the Tom Coughlin Jay Fund. The fund helps families tackle childhood cancer by providing comprehensive financial, emotional and practical support.

Osman won the Jay Fund Foundation Wenger Family STEM Scholarship, an annual college scholarship awarded to 16 cancer patients and survivors to encourage them to pursue their dreams.

“I heard about the Jay Fund through the clinic I would go to for treatment, but I received a letter about the scholarship months ago. It had been sitting on my piano for some time, and I thought, ‘Why not go ahead and apply?’” Osman said. “I did, and I was lucky enough to be chosen. I am endlessly grateful for their financial support.”

After being diagnosed with synovial cell sarcoma in her arm during her junior year, Osman’s long-term goals were put on the back burner.

“It came by really fast. When I was diagnosed, everything was just tunnel vision. I had to focus on one thing at a time, and graduation seemed 100 years away,” she said.

Despite undergoing chemotherapy, radiation and surgery to kill the tumor, Osman never backed down and continued to apply herself in school, taking rigorous courses in the IB diploma program to pursue her dream of helping others in medicine.

Osman graduated Summa Cum Laude and as an AP Scholar in May. She received the African American National Recognition Award and has placed twice in the senior division in the Chemistry and Environmental Clay County Science Fair and received second place in healthcare administration in the Future Business Leaders of America district competition this year.

Now, Osman can finally embrace her dream of being a neuroscientist, a dream she’s had since elementary school. She will take biology classes at NYU to prepare her for medical school.

“Graduation during my cancer treatment seemed so far in the future. There’s no point in focusing on all that now, but it was during a time, let’s say when I was throwing up from cancer treatments. After remission, I realized that graduation and going to college was possible, very possible,” she said.

“I knew I was on the right path. My grades were good, even with my absences. When I was in the hospital, my mom would bring my laptop so I could work on my assignments,” she said. “So you know, I was laying down on my hospital bed, and the nurses would come in checking my heart rate, checking my temperature and whatnot while I would be rushing to finish an essay for IB history or English.”

Classwork and her passion for piano helped distract her from the stress and anxiety of her extensive medical treatment. It also opened her eyes to the medical profession she longed to be a part of.

“I would often stay for three days at a time for chemo treatments, and that made me really pay attention to what the doctors and nurses were doing, and I saw how passionate they were about the field,” she said.

“I feel this experience, in general, has been valuable in maintaining an empathetic approach to working with patients. It’s always important to understand what they are going through, even if that is impossible because we all deal with things differently – but I think it will help me sympathize with patients and be more passionate about what I am working towards.”

However, the most important lesson didn’t come from textbooks and lectures. It came from within.

“I learned a lot about myself in the last two years. What surprised me the most was realizing that I was capable enough, even undergoing everything that I went through, to take care of my body and my mind,” she said

“I feel that really anything is possible. It’s your mind that needs convincing, not your body. You need to make sure that what you’re doing is something you’re really passionate about if you put your entire body, mind, and soul into it,” she said.

To those struggling with a difficult diagnosis, to those who may feel lost or directionless, Osman reminds them to never give up on our dreams.

“I’m not going to say it’s an easy time because it’s not, but even though the future may not seem promising, we dance with fear and doubt every day. Using that as an excuse not to pursue your passions is not going to cut it,” she said. “You should try to be more optimistic about what you are going to do rather than being pessimistic.”