Estela Casas awards scholarships to local students in their efforts to fight cancer

EL PASO, Texas -- Various El Paso organizations awarded scholarships to local students that have made efforts in the fight against cancer.

"When I was going through my cancer journey the community lifted me. And so this was a great opportunity to give back that way," said Estela Casas, former ABC-7 anchor who established the Stand with Estela Foundation.

10 local students received scholarships from the Foundation in collaboration with Viva Auto Group and Bags of Hope.

"Cancer isn't the end of your life. It's your journey and it shows your strength and your perseverance," said recipient and cancer survivor Ivan Angel Zarate. Zarate was diagnosed with testicular cancer during his freshman year of high school. His mother was diagnosed with thyroid cancer the following year.

"We would often look at each other, and she would tell me to stay strong," Zarate said about his mother, "Sometimes she wouldn't be strong, and I would have to stay strong for her."

Zarate is now cancer-free, and his mother is in remission.

Inspired by her father's courage in battling colon and liver cancer, scholarship recipient Madison Kelly got a tattoo of a lion with the colors representing those fighting the two cancers. She also got a tattoo about not giving up.

"Even if they pass away and their fight doesn't make it, you continue fighting for them. That's...one of the major things I've always said, I can't stop fighting because my dad fought, now I have to fight," said Kelly, who lost her father to his battle with colon and liver cancer.