When Angel Wilson isn’t working, the program coordinator at the Academic Success Center at St. Edward’s University is battling the internal struggle that has been raging within her body for the past two years.

The trouble began the summer of 2008, when rashes caused Angel Wilson to scratch skin off of her body. Dropping 60 pounds in two months caused her family question her health. That winter, the then-33-year-old was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

“I’ll never forget that day in the ER,” Wilson said. “It was like yesterday. It was inauguration day for Obama.”

Also known as Hodgkin’s disease, Hodgkin’s lymphoma is marked by the presence of a type of cell called the Reed-Sternburg (RS) cell, which can affect the lymph nodes, spleen, bone marrow, and other internal organs.

Wilson had lived her life without any major health problems prior to the diagnosis.

“I’ve never been in the hospital for anything,” she said. “I never experienced a sprain or even a broken arm and cast where everybody got to sign.”

That same day, after the initial diagnosis, Wilson also learned of a mass in her chest measuring 14-by-11-by-10 centimeters that was close to her heart and pressing against her lungs.

In order to satisfy speculation as to what the mass could be, the doctors would remove two marble-sized pieces of the mass for a biopsy.

Wilson awoke from surgery with a foot-long scar running down the middle of her chest—evidence of the repair the doctor had to do after taking a third piece from the mass and nicking her pulmonary vein.

“At the time…all I could think was thank the Lord for not taking me, because I obviously have other stuff to do,” Wilson said.

The diagnosis and surgery kept Wilson from working until she achieved remission in early 2010.

“It was time to try something new,” Wilson said. “When I saw this position [at St. Edward’s], I thought, ‘This seems really cool.’ Plus, it was at the time when I was nearing the end of my Ph.D, so it was time for a change.”

Wilson was also busy with moving into a friend’s house, and also going to see the doctor that same week.

That was the doctor’s appointment when she learned the cancer had returned. Shortly thereafter, she got a call from St. Edward’s offering her the job. She was unsure whether to accept.

“In the beginning, I didn’t tell anybody because we were still testing and making sure it was back,” Wilson said. “So there was no point. Once I had a definite answer, then I shared.”

After she was certain the cancer had returned, Wilson shared her medical condition with her co-workers and the students she mentors through the Academic Success Center.

“I suspected something,” junior Lupita Hinojosa said. “She was gone a lot and she came back thinner and with less hair. But I don’t see a difference in her attitude because she’s always highly spirited and happy.”

Walking around campus with the effects of chemotherapy visually evident is one of the ways Wilson informs people about living with cancer.

“There are people who have questions about my condition, or have a stereotypical image of a person with cancer,” she said. “They hear cancer and think of these blue, weak, contagious people. But I’m far from that. People need to see all sides — that’s why talk about it.”

Dressing up her crisp, clean look with nothing more than accessories and personality, she refuses to wear a wig.

“It’s not my personality to wear wigs,” Wilson said. “I’m spunky, I’m hot, and my head is cute. I don’t get into vanity.”

As she walks around Moody Hall carrying out her daily duties, she catches the attention of the various students lining the atrium studying. Yet, she never looks down towards the floor; never wanders away from her destination.

“I think it’s cool that she doesn’t wear a wig,” sophomore Pedro Fuentes said. “I don’t know her, but to see that she’s obviously open about her condition makes me want to know more about her. She’s confident, and you can tell she carries a lot of positivity.”

Wilson’s co-workers all agree that she brings a light to the windowless department.

    “Angel is like her own little party, she really is,” said Adrienne Embree, Wilson’s co-worker and the Assistant Coordinator at the Academic Success Center. “She is a cross between a motivational speaker and a tiny party.”

Wilson has traveled a path unmapped, and says she will continue to do so.

“Life is what happens when you [don’t] plan for it,” she said. “So I don’t believe in being the kind of person who maps out a bunch of stuff. In fact, I love the quote that states, ‘The quickest way to make God laugh is to tell him your plans.'”

Currently, Wilson is continuing chemotherapy in hopes of regaining remission, and hopes she will have a number of years ahead of her to not plan her future.

“I’m going to fight until the dragon is slain because I have a lot of swords,” she said. “But what I look forward to the most…is tomorrow.”