to a rare form of cancer captivated the hearts of Bermudians.

One year later, The Royal Gazette's Nicole Williams-Smith checks-up on Rodericka Pitcher, a charming young woman with a strength of character far beyond her years.

Sixteen is a special year in the life of most teenagers.

It is the year when most of them will get their first measure of independence -- a licence to ride a motorbike.

But Rodericka Pitcher will remember her `sweet' sixteenth year for another reason -- it is the year she waged a bitter battle against a killer disease.

"I had quite a year, but I'm feeling fine,'' said the shy CedarBridge Academy student, who turned 17 years old last Saturday.

For months at a time, Rodericka had her body subjected to a series of gruelling chemotherapy treatments in a bid to rid her system of the deadly cancer.

On September 9, 1998, Rodericka was diagnosed with Osteogenic Sarcoma of the jaw -- a rare form of cancer which attacks the bones.

Experts estimate that one out of one million Americans will get rare cancer and locally, doctors will come across one Bermudian every 30 years with this type of cancer.

"In March, there was a very small abscess and over two months it grew very aggressively,'' Rodericka's aunt Sharon Pitcher Jones explained to The Royal Gazette last year, shortly after Rodericka's diagnosis. "In just two months it multiplied.

"It's in a spot where we could see it, thank God. If it wasn't we would have never known. At first we thought it was just another tooth trying to come through.'' Fortunately, Rodericka's doctors detected the cancer early enough thereby drastically improving her chances for survival.

"I'm glad to be back,'' declared the resilient teen who returned to Bermuda in September after spending a year abroad to receive special medical attention.

Rodericka underwent treatment at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston since the medical procedures could not have been done in Bermuda due to the side effects she would experience.

When she was not confined to the hospital, Rodericka and her mother, Hattie, lived in an apartment in Boston.

"She had ten weeks of introductory chemotherapy involving three different types of chemotherapy,'' recalled Rodericka's mother Hattie. "Then she had the tumour taken out and the tests showed that 90 percent of the tumour was dead due to the chemotherapy.

After that she began the second course of chemotherapy which lasted for four months.'' Ms Pitcher said that the doctors prescribed such high doses of chemotherapy because Rodericka's cancer was in the bloodstream and they wanted to eliminate the possibility that it could spread to her lungs.

"The treatment was constant,'' she added. "Most of her time was spent in the hospital. But she was treated very well by the staff, we couldn't of asked for more.

"She passed most of the time in the hospital sleeping. The medicine she took to deal with the effects of the chemotherapy knocked her out.'' But despite the havoc the therapy wreaked on her body, Rodericka's aunt said her niece was a model patient and a profile in courage.

"She was very strong throughout the whole thing,'' Ms Pitcher Jones recalled.

"She had her down times, but she saw the others at the hospital who were worse and realised that she was lucky and that her prognosis was good.'' In addition to a gruelling schedule of chemotherapy, Rodericka also had to undergo reconstruction surgery for her jaw.

Rodericka's mother added: "We just took things one day at a time. There were lots of prayers.

"I had to leave my four-year-old son behind when we went up but with the support of my sisters, my parents and his father -- he was alright. Kids are stronger than we think.'' But Ms Pitcher admitted that there were times when her resolve was severely tested.

"There were times when I was exhausted,'' she confessed. "It's the ultimate sacrifice of time and energy, but it was worth it.

"My entire family sacrificed for this, but we would do it all over again.'' And the Pitchers said the kindness and generosity of complete strangers also provided them with immense comfort during the harrowing ordeal.

"We can't even call names,'' began Ms Pitcher Jones. "We just want to thank everyone for the calls and e-mails -- everything.

"We got so much support from people, even strangers -- we were overwhelmed.

It actually lifted our spirits through this.

"How can you ever repay people for this.'' To help Rodericka, who wants to become an accountant, keep up with her school work as well as keep in contact with her friends and family while she was abroad, The Computer Centre donated an IBM Think Pad laptop computer and printer.

"She had a computer to help her keep in touch and do school work,'' explained Ms Pitcher. "So when she went back to school this September, she just fell right back into place.'' While Rodericka has returned triumphantly to Bermuda, the Pitchers know that this war with cancer is not completely over.

"She has a surgery in January and then one in April,'' explained Ms Pitcher.

"She also has to have cat-scans and blood tests every four months. The tests will eventually be stretched out to every six months and then to once a year.

"We have to be watching constantly and she will always be under the care of an oncologist.'' Profile in courage: Seventeen-year-old Rodericka Pitcher (centre) pictured her with her Mother Hattie (left) and her aunt, Sharon Pitcher Jones was a profile in courage during her year-long battle against cancer.