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HAMILTON —Hamilton High School senior Megan Metcalfe wishes women who lose their hair because they are undergoing treatment for cancer "would just go out bald and then people would get use to it."

She did.

"At first I was self-conscious about it and I wouldn't go out without something on my head," said Metcalfe, who was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. "However, even though people stared at me — which I wish they wouldn't — I realized I couldn't change it ... so you just embrace it."

One night nine months ago, while pushing back her long, blonde hair, Metcalfe said she felt "a weird bump on my neck."

After undergoing a battery of tests, doctors confirmed she had cancerous masses in her neck, chest and pancreas.

"I used to think if I ever got cancer I would lay down and roll into a ball," she said. "But you can't. That is not an option."

During the tests, she continued her tumbling lessons. She dreamed of being a cheerleader her senior year of high school. But when she was diagnosed with cancer, the doctors said the lessons had to stop.

But when doctors told her she likely would not be able to attend the first day of her senior year, she told them, "Miss my first day of school my senior year ... I don't think so. I am going, straight up."

"She is such an inspiration," said her mother, Cathy Metcalfe. "All through her treatment she never let it change her plans. She was going to the prom and she was going to be at school the first day of her senior year.

"Cancer was not going to stop her."

After her last chemo treatment she went to cheerleading camp "and never missed a beat," said co-adviser Brenda LaBoffe-Pierson. "She really inspired me."

She is in remission and has come to "appreciate the little things, like sleeping in your bed, being around your pets ... having a bad hair day."

She wants to start an organization to spread awareness about lymphoma, represented by a lime green ribbon, to teach people that each type of cancer is different.

She plans to go to business school at Miami University, join a sorority, take some tumbling lessons and maybe try out for the cheerleading team.

Her plans before cancer, or "BC," as she says, "were to shake up things up a little bit and make her mark."

Now, her plans are pretty much the same.

"If you can beat cancer, you can do anything," Megan said. "Nobody can mess with you."

Straight up.

Do you know other area residents whose stories inspire?