Laura Vaida, a sophomore on LMU’s women's basketball team, takes Breast Cancer Awareness Month to highlight her grandmother, a breast cancer survivor.
Vaida and her grandmother are from Bucharest, Romania. At the age of 35, her grandmother had a node in her breast removed. “It was a huge insecurity of hers...It was something that affected her life immensely,” Vaida said. Despite that obstacle, Vaida shared how strong of a woman her grandmother is. Vaida’s grandmother worked as an air traffic controller for the Air Force and also survived riots of the Romainan Revolution in 1989.
Even with the adversity her grandmother faced due to having part of her breast removed, Vaida talked of the contagious amount of happiness her grandmother exudes. Vaida’s grandmother continues to remain grateful and takes advantage of her life through simple activities like yoga, stick-walking, or going to the beach. “She’s living the life at 66...She didn't abandon anything. She didn't let anything that happened to her pull her down. She didn't say ‘Oh, it’s too late for me.’ She just went for it,” Vaida said.
Vaida often looks up to her grandmother for hope, allowing her to persevere through any of her own personal struggles. “That unconditional love that she has for everything around her, basically erases every worry that I have in the world when I talk to her. It just gives me strength to overcome everything, if she overcame that.” When feeling down in any way, Vaida calls her grandmother for advice and to simply be reminded of her strength. Vaida’s grandmother is a constant source of inspiration for Vaida’s hard work and dedication, whether that be on or off the court.
