Teen Cancer Survivor Inspiring People Across S. Fla.
MIAMI (CBS4) - Anthony Shicappa Pietra received a Silver Knight Award Thursday night and will graduate high school on Saturday, but his journey has been anything but easy as he begins to prepare for the next chapter in his life.
Anthony knows a lot about pacing himself. The 18-year-old is officially cancer free today after a two year painful battle with non-Hodgkin T-cell lymphoma.
It is a battle that he won while earning straight A's in school, getting accepted to many of the best universities in the country, and raising $25,000 for cancer research.
"It was hectic," Schiappa Pietra recalled. "But it took my mind off a lot of the stuff that I was doing in the hospital." Much of the accomplishments he did while undergoing exhausting, debilitating chemotherapy treatments in his hospital bed."
Despite the illness, Schiappa Pietra organized a 5K run that he called "The Tony Trot."
Although he felt horrible, he remembered the event and the energy it brought to him during this dark period of his life.
"Oh, it was one of the greatest days of my life," he said. "I talked to all the runners before they went out. I ran, I ran the race."
His parents said Anthony is a constant inspiration in their own lives.
"He never asked for anything when he got sick," remembered Debra Schiappa Pietra, Anthony's mom. "He doesn't remember, but he turned around to me and he said to me mom I want to graduate with my class because the doctors had told him there's no way you're going back to school. You'll be out for a year."
Pietra didn't take that year off and fought through it all. Thursday night, he received the prestigious Silver Knight Award.
Saturday, he will graduate from Palmer Trinity High School and then in August, he's off to his college of choice the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill.
Despite his accomplishments, the teen is humble. His mind is now set on yet another charity run on June 2nd. Beating cancer wasn't enough for him. He wants to help others fight it.
"I lucked out," he said. "There are kids who aren't cancer free and need help and that we need to help them and that I am going to help them."
For more information on Anthony's race and how to donate, click here.
