By Carrie Whitaker, The Enquirer
"Blessed not lucky," reads 12-year-old Jessica Elam's T-shirt. And the more you hear her story, you can’t help but agree.

She's gotten the opportunity to swim with dolphins, meet famous people and run a dog sled – incredible opportunities for a child her age. But she’s not lucky. She has terminal cancer.

The Liberty Township pre-teen was living the life of a normal child until 2001, when she began having strange health problems. It began – and was diagnosed – as migraines. But when she woke up one morning, her eye swollen, “protruding” strangely from her face, her mother Amy was alarmed.

Amy and her husband Jeff took Jessica to Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, to run a bunch of tests to rule out “the big, bad and ugly,” her mother remembered. But the results were all of the above. Doctors found a tumor the size of a kidney at the base of her brain. It was removed successfully in November 2001.

“She said to me, ‘Jesus wanted me to tell you, God is not done with me yet. I have more to do,’” Amy said. “That’s when she was 7 years old.”

Then, in December 2003, doctors removed another tumor near her spinal cord. Today she lives with a tumor in an inoperable part of her brain, which was found in March 2006. It seems radiation is working, Amy said. Tests show the tumor isn’t growing. So today, Jessica does what she can to live a normal life, and cherish every moment.

While she was in the hospital, one of her nurses told her about Little Star, a camp for children with cancer started by tennis phenom Andrea Jaeger.

In the last three years, Jessica has been nominated to spend time at the ranch on four different occasions. In 2006, Jaeger became an Anglican Dominican nun in the Episcopal Church. She plans to sell the ranch and is now taking the children who are chosen for Little Star on traveling vacations, Amy said.

Jessica just returned from a trip to San Diego July 7-12 with Jaeger and 10 other “cancer kids.”

They went to a San Diego Padres game, fed animals at the San Diego Zoo and met skateboarding legend Tony Hawk. This year there were five children from Puerto Rico, which Jessica said made the trip more interesting.

“The first time I went I was nervous to be away from my parents, I was crying when I got on the plane,” Jessica said. But that didn’t last long, her mother said.

“It’s been amazing,” Jessica said. “I can’t wait to see what Andrea will do. She’s always got something up her sleeve.”

The kids get to go on Jaeger’s trips for free, made possible by donations from celebrities and normal people around the world. Donations can be made at www.littlestar.org.

While Jessica was away this month, ESPN aired a segment on Jaeger. Amy said she watched intently as pictures of her oldest daughter popped up on the screen.

“Like Jessica says, ‘Cancer is a gift. It’s a bad one, but it can turn into something special,’” Amy said. As Jessica tells story after story about the things she has done since she was diagnosed, the conversation turns to how she and her family hope to help other children with cancer and others in need of help.

“We have found our calling,” Amy said. “It’s our turn to help people.”

Learn more about Jessica and her family at www.caringbridge.com/visit/jessicaelam.