Savannah resident Olivia Ortiz graduated with her Bachelor of Science in radiologic sciences from Georgia Southern University this May. As she walked across the stage, she carried with her the memories of the day her journey to a college degree began: when her mother was diagnosed with breast cancer.
“My sister and I went to school, same as any other day,” she said. “When we got home, my parents sat us on the couch. I went numb, silent. There was nothing I could say.”
The next two years flew by at an excruciatingly slow pace. Ortiz spent days of her senior year of high school by her mother’s side during chemotherapy treatments…