If you ask 13-year-old Alana how to survive numerous surgeries and cope with a difficult illness, she will tell you, "Have faith in the doctors and nurses that they will do what they need to get better." And she obviously follows her own advice.

For Alana, who lives in Kennebec County, her troubles began with a pain in her stomach which was quickly diagnosed as ulcerative colitis. Her pediatric surgeon remembers those early days, "When she came to us, she had not been eating well for some time because of her stomach troubles. She was severely underweight, sore and suffering from intestinal problems. She was a very sick little girl."

The pediatric surgical team at the children's hospital removed her colon with no problem, but after the second surgery she had a complication.  This resulted in additional surgeries and a longer healing process.  "Sometimes I would just break down and cry," says Alana. "But my mom convinced me that there were a lot of kids worse off than me and that it would get better." And it did.