BALTIMORE — As a little girl growing up in Jarrettsville, Faith Armstrong always knew what she wanted to be a doctor.
Now, she is a great one at the University of Maryland Baltimore-Washington Medical Center.
She lives by the motto, “It’s always now.”
You can read those words on her left forearm.
The 35-year-old doctor shows us how she practices by "Faith and Hope."
Now, Dr. Armstrong is dealing with battle that will take "Faith and Hope" to overcome.
“I had a headache and I never had a headache," Dr. Armstrong said.
She even took a guess herself.
“Maybe I was dehydrated, meningitis, I was thinking of all possibilities," she said.
But a brain tumor wasn’t on the guess list.
Four years ago, at the age of 31, she was told she had a tumor. She had never taken a sick day in her life. She was very healthy.
Within two weeks, she went from her ICU floor to the Tate Center next door to have the tumor removed by Dr. Liang.
She was diagnosed with Grade III Anaplastic Astrocytoma, which is a high-grade glioma (brain cancer).
Now, Dr. Armstrong is 35 and has no limitations.
Even while dealing with brain cancer, she came to work everyday during the pandemic.
She feels she is better with her patients after being one.
Her real motivation is her daughter, a 10-year-old fourth-grader named Hope.
“She is the best human in the world, my rock," Dr. Armstrong said.
Here’s what Hope wrote to her mom on Mothers Day:
When you put me to bed, so many thoughts swirled in my head.
As I grew older, I would be bolder.
When I was sad or bad, you always had my back.
All the smiles we shared, I always cared.
And u were never scare. When something went wrong, and you were always strong.
And that is why you’re the best mom a kid could ask for.
Notice the names. Faith and Hope. “It’s always now.”
