. >> reporter: laura allaire has her hands full these days. a former nurse, she's now a stay-at-home mom raising two young daughters in orinda california, just outside san francisco. allaire, who is 33, exercises often and does yoga. in many ways, she is the picture of health, but a decade ago she was in a very different place. >> i was diagnosed when i was 12 years old with hodgkins lymphoma. >> reporter: allaire was in 7th grade when she learned she had cancer. she kept a journal detailing a grueling year of hospital visits and treatments. >> after the doctor checks me, she says i can get my keepo. i go see melody. she gives me my chemo through a port. the chemotherapy and radiation allaire received are well-known weapons in the battle against cancer. powerful chemicals in chemotherapy drugs attack cells that are rapidly dividing. and high-energy beams used in radiation kill cancer cells by damaging their d.n.a. >> i had a mass in my chest and so the radiation was directed there. and my doctors actually gave me a small tattoo after i was don