The Johnston Christian Academy student has favorite pastimes — writing fiction, playing with her dog and hanging out with friends. And she plans to go to college, perhaps to study writing or the ministry. Her mother, Becky, is a writer and musician; her father, Steven, is a pastor.

But Smith’s life has not always been so typical. In May 2002, at age 6, she was diagnosed with Stage IV neuroblastoma, a cancer of the nervous system.

“When she was diagnosed, the doctors said she had a 20-percent chance of surviving for five years,” said Becky Smith. “A lot was going through our minds — panic, disbelief and a few tears. Doctors had a medical plan in place, but we had to come up with our own kind of not-give-up attitude and rely on faith, prayer and a sense of humor.”

Four months after the diagnosis, doctors removed Smith’s adrenal gland, where they had found the tumor. In January 2003, she underwent a bone-marrow transplant to guard against the cancer returning. Along the way, Smith endured radiation five days a week for three weeks.

The treatment took its toll: Smith lost all of her hair, had trouble holding down food and became very weak. At one point, she weighed just 40 pounds, the average weight of a 4-year-old. In one year, she spent 160 days in the hospital.

“We really weren’t sure about the future,” Sarah Smith said. “It wasn’t, ‘Oh yeah, I am going to live to see tomorrow.’ There was some doubt in the back of our heads. Will she graduate? Will she get married and go through life?”

Their worries then were justified. Three years ago, doctors found abnormal growths in her femur, hip and backbone, and she had to go through chemotherapy again. The experience shook the Smith family to the core.

“When I heard the word ‘relapse,’ my whole childhood flashed back,” Sarah Smith said. “I thought, ‘Do I have to go through this again?’ I am lucky it was only three months.”

Becky Smith thinks her daughter’s story is pretty incredible. Apparently, so did David Tabatsky, coeditor of “Chicken Soup for the Soul: The Cancer Book,” which was published earlier this month. Out of 3,000 submissions, only 101 made the cut. Becky Smith submitted eight stories to Tabatsky. He took four of the stories and weaved them into one called “Changing the World.”

Deciding what to write was a tough task for Becky Smith. “I have a blog with 1.5 million visitors, so I took from the different blog entries,” she said. “I am so used to writing about her because I do this every day, but narrowing it down to particular stories was hard. So much has happened.”

Sarah Smith was excited to have her story published in the “Chicken Soup for the Soul” series. “You can see so many voices and so many different people talking,” she said of the book. “It’s not just one person telling all these different stories. It’s like a melting pot.”

Smith story’s is partly about having a good sense of humor amid adversity. “That is always the kind of thoughts you need to have,” Sarah Smith said. “Find something to laugh at. You can’t go through chemotherapy and cancer without laughing at it. You can go through it, but it will be much harder if you can’t laugh.”

“Chicken Soup for the Soul: The Cancer Book” is available at most bookstores.

Staff Reporter Sarah McNeil can be reached at 934-2176, Ext. 129, or by e-mail at smcneil@nando.com.