Like other MSU students, chemical engineering senior Heather Schultz dresses casually in denim blue jeans and a short-sleeve MSU T-shirt. Occasionally stumbling over Fisher Price toys, she pads through her two-bedroom apartment in furry white house shoes. From the kitchen, her voice echoes as she shouts, "Are you OK? You're getting kind of comfortable in that chair."

As she tucks her hair behind her ear, a scar along the left side of her neck becomes noticeable. But she doesn't let this permanent reminder from a time in her past stop her from living in the present.

And the fact that every six months she's examined for cancer doesn't get in the way, either.

When Schultz's alarm sounds at about 7:30 a.m. on weekdays, she doesn't repeatedly hit the snooze button and roll back over in bed.

When she peers out the window of her Spartan Village apartment and sees snow falling on her car, she doesn't have the option of skipping class.

"It really sucks though, because I feel like she's growing up and I'm missing it because I'm so busy going to class," Schultz said. "I go for her, so I can provide for her to be able to go to school some day."

Schultz is a single student parent and cancer survivor.

Living

Time is something Schultz said she has learned to appreciate and manage since the birth of her now 16-month-old daughter, Margaret, whom she calls Maggie.

Waking at 7:30 a.m. Monday through Friday, Schultz budgets about 30 minutes to feed, dress and get Maggie ready for day care. On a good day, Schultz and Maggie are racing out the door by 8:15 a.m. - except on Wednesdays when her first class begins at 8 a.m.

After skipping breakfast and dropping Maggie off at day care, Schultz speeds home to park her car, shower for class and pack a lunch. She's out the door by 9:45 a.m. and heading to the bus stop.

For Schultz, 28, Tuesday and Thursday is when studying and grocery shopping are accomplished. While glancing at Maggie in a nearby high chair, Schultz said Saturday and Sunday are the days she looks forward to because she gets to spend time with her daughter.

"I've had the opportunity every day, just for a moment, to experience pure joy," Schultz said. "Everyday I smile over something she does. I can't say I knew that feeling before."

On Oct. 15, 2003, Maggie Schultz arrived six weeks early. That day, Schultz said, was the most frightening in her life.

"I was scared, excited and so many things all at the same time," she said. "I didn't know what to expect. I knew I was doing it by myself, but I didn't know what I was doing."

Because Maggie's father was not in the picture, Schultz dealt with the frustration of becoming a single parent. On top of that, she battled with the stress of having a premature baby in critical condition - Maggie's intestine was closed off and she wasn't passing fluids. In order to save her daughter's life, the doctors had to operate immediately.

Terrified, Schultz said one of the thoughts running through her mind was her "perfect pregnancy went wrong." She said doctors told her 33 percent of babies with a blocked intestine, like Maggie's, were associated with having Down syndrome.

After spending three weeks in the Intensive Care Unit, Maggie was released - she didn't have any signs of Down syndrome and was deemed a healthy baby.

But before Maggie was born on that frightening day in October, Schultz had a scare she thought she wouldn't live to tell about.

Survivor

Before attending MSU, the Bay City native had been living and going to school in California. In 2002, Schultz transferred to MSU.

Shortly before relocating to Michigan, Schultz said she noticed a spot on her neck the size of a pea. The spot, which Schultz once believed to be a cyst, grew bigger than a golf ball. Because she knew she would be attending school at MSU, Schultz said she didn't bother visiting a doctor in California.

But Schultz discovered what she once believed to be a drainable cyst was cancer.

She said she didn't realize the seriousness of the lump on the left side of her neck until she left Olin Health Center.

"I was on the cell phone with my mom reading the green sheet they give you, then at the bottom of the green sheet it said 'possible cancer,'" Schultz said.

After reading it once, Schultz said she laughed and thought she was misdiagnosed. She said she didn't think the doctors at Olin knew what they were talking about.

But that all changed the night before her scheduled biopsy, Schultz said.

"Soon as I woke up something about me knew," she said. "I called my best friend and I said, 'I want you to know they are going to tell me I have cancer.'"

A few days later, Schultz was diagnosed with Merkel cell carcinoma, a form of cancer usually seen in white men between the ages of 60 and 80.

It's been two and half years since she had surgery at the University of Michigan to remove the cancer. She hasn't had any recurrences, but every six months she's examined from her neck down to her pelvis, she said.

Support

In 2002, doctors told Schultz she only had two years to live. Schultz has proved them wrong. She's overcome obstacles some might never experience in a lifetime.

Schultz said support from her family and friends has been the thread helping to keep her together.

Heather Schultz's mother, Deb Schultz, said her daughter's determination and self-motivation is inspirational in itself.

"She has taken on a lot," Deb Schultz said. "Some girls would give up and take the easy way out."

Deb Schultz, a Midland resident, said she could never face some of the challenges her daughter has seen. With Heather Schultz being an only child and fatherless by age seven, Deb Schultz said the goal was to raise her to be independent. Now, she said her daughter has not only grown to be independent, but also has taught her things she could not teach herself.

"She taught me a lot about not being afraid," Deb Schultz said. "When they told her (about having cancer) she didn't freak out and she faced it fearlessly."

Deb Schultz, who visits Heather and Maggie Schultz every two weeks, said she could not understand why the streak of illness had infected her family, after seeing the two fight for their lives.

"I just wanted to reach up and grab God by the neck," Deb Schultz said. "I felt resentful and angry."

Now, Heather Schultz's mom said she is at ease knowing the two most important women in her life are doing OK.

Maggie Schultz's day care provider, Julie Staky, said looking at life through Heather Schultz's eyes reminds her that some situations could be worse.

"It must be extremely difficult," Staky said. "Not only to be a single parent but a full-time college student. I can't even imagine."

Staky, who operates Julie's Daycare in Okemos, said the bond between Heather Schultz and her daughter is one of a kind.

"A lot of the time, Maggie's the last one to leave," the mother of three said. "As soon as she hears the doorbell, she shakes her arms and gets this big smile on her face."