In January of 2020, Kara Skrubis was diagnosed with osteosarcoma, a rare pediatric bone cancer. She decided to take a year off of school for treatment which included an above-the-knee amputation and nine months of chemotherapy.

"I was diagnosed during a really odd time," she said. "It was a couple of months before COVID hit, so I didn’t really feel alone with having to leave school because everyone had to leave school."

When Skrubis returned to campus, she discovered her new physical disability needed accommodating in ways she hadn't thought of before. She worked with the UB Accessibility Resources office to help her find reasonable accommodations and ways to physically navigate the campus.

After her surgery, chemo and a change in major (from dance and psychology to psychology and health and human sciences), she is getting ready to graduate in a few months. "There are some really long days in the hospital. What kept me going was just the thought of taking it one day at a time, and when that got to be too much, taking it an hour at a time or a minute at a time."

Read Skrubis's full story here.