My name is Chelsie Reid I am 16 years old I was born in a country called Guyana. I came to America when I was about 9 months old. I was diagnosed with retina blastoma, which is cancer in the eyes. I came because I needed a lot of treatments that my country was not able to provide. The president of my country at the time gave me a visa because I was in a lot of newspapers thanks to my aunt who worked at a newspaper company. There was an article was all about me, my diagnosis and the best place to get treatment was the US. Not only did we get the visa because of that article but people also sent us money.

I was only 9 months so I did not know all of the changes my mother had to face to get me the medical help I needed. My mom had to leave a country she knew all her life with all of her sisters and brothers and my grandparents. My mother was scared cause it was a huge transition from what she knew before. She had to learn new ways to do things.

Guyana is a country that speaks English so my mom was lucky enough to know this language but that did not mean things were easy for us. Our aunt took us in so we lived by her for a couple of years but after that we found ourselves and became more independent even though it was a tricky beginning we got through and 16 years later we are here in New York no longer immigrants but now we can say we are proud to be an American where they can help us with our medical needs and where we can go far in life becoming whatever we would like to.

– Chelsie Reid

Relationship:  Im/migrant Im/migrant