Cherokee oncologist-to-be

Father's death focuses student

His cancer motivated Amanda Bighorse to become an oncologist.The death of her father from cancer in August has put 24-year-old Amanda Bighorse on course to become one of the few Native American oncologists in the country.

"I wanted to be a pediatrician before. But that experience was really eye-opening for me," said Bighorse, who is a first-year medical student at Oklahoma State University's medical school in Tulsa.

As far as Bighorse knows, there are only two American Indian oncologists in the country.