12-Year-Olds Fall in Love While Fighting Cancer


(usatoday.com) – A hospital can often be a cold, sterile place, and probably the last place you’d expect to find love. That’s especially true if you’re just 12-years-old. But Stella Usiak and Lucas Lowe have found a very special friendship while both fighting a very serious disease.

“She’s had a crush on me for a while now, and I’ve had a crush on her, so her and me are boyfriend and girlfriend now,” said Lucas.

Stella describes Lucas as hilarious and “a gentleman.” And Lucas describes Stella as kind and nice, “like a woman should be,” he said.

Lucas and Stella first met when they both started fighting Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. Both went into remission, then both relapsed. Both had bone marrow transplants and both have constantly been in and out of hospitals, including Roswell Park Cancer Institute.

“He worries about how I’m feeling just like I worry about how he feels,” said Stella.

The hospital staff has watched their special friendship grow.

“No one really knows what a kid with cancer is going through- not the parent, not the nurse, not a friend – the only other person that knows what a kid with cancer is going through is another kid with cancer,” said Roswell Park Registered Nurse Angelica Zachara.

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