At 28-years-old, Janis Ollson and her husband Daryl had a 3-year-old daughter and a baby on the way. But the family's whole world was turned upside-down when in her seventh month of pregnancy Janis was diagnosed with bone cancer. After her son was born, doctors informed Janis that the only way to remove the life-threatening chondrosarcoma in her lower spine was to have her body literally cut in half. They would have to remove Janis' left leg, half of her pelvis, her tail bone and lower spine, then cut her skeletal system in half, remove the tumor and reconnect her. Faced with a surgery that had been previously only performed on cadavers, Janis' focus was on one thing. "When you're at that point, you're not scared of dying," she recalls. "But I did not want to leave those children."

The surgery was a success, and though Janis must now use crutches or a wheelchair, she knows it's a small price for being cancer-free. "Life is different now," she says, "but I refuse to let anything slow me down. It's very important for me to still be a good mom to my children. I don't want them ever to be at the point where they say, 'We can't do that because my mom can't.' I think them seeing me plug through as hard as I do, I think it'll make them better and stronger people."