CORINTH – Two years of chemotherapy, six lung surgeries, reconstructive leg surgery, months in the hospital and continuous doctors visits are a part of Jackie Blanchard’s life, but it’s evident that being diagnosed with cancer in 2001 as a sixth grader hasn’t dampened her spirit.

Her optimism has been an inspiration to others, and Jackie, now 17, has been selected as honorary co-chair of this year’s Relay for Life in Old Town to help raise money and awareness about cancer.

“All of this that we do in Maine, it does matter and it does get used,” Jackie’s mother, Sherry Blanchard, said Sunday.

Jackie has participated in the survivor’s lap the last couple of years, and it’s become a family tradition to go to Pat’s Pizza in Orono Friday night of the relay before returning to Old Town for the luminary ceremony.

“Jackie has overcome so much more than any young person should ever be expected to endure,” Sherry wrote in the letter nominating her daughter for the honorary co-chair position. “Children like her are to be commended for their endurance, caring hearts, and courage.”

The words metastatic osteosarcoma are a mouthful for anyone, but for a young girl the words meant trips to specialists in Boston, losing her hair, missing out on important teenage social events and months spent in a hospital bed.

“Jackie was in the hospital 250 days the first year,” Scott Blanchard, Jackie’s father, said.

Looking at 17-year-old Jackie Blanchard now and hearing her talk about her plans to attend the University of Maine in the fall and become a civil engineer, you wouldn’t imagine the struggles this young woman and her family have been through on a journey that began more than six years ago.

“I was playing basketball in the sixth grade and my leg was hurting so we saw a doctor, who referred us to another doctor,” Jackie said Sunday, surrounded by her parents and sister at the family’s dining room table.

Jackie and her parents found themselves at Children’s Hospital of Boston in January 2001.

“We didn’t come home for quite some time,” Sherry Blanchard said.

Jackie was diagnosed with bone cancer, which had started in her femur and spread through her blood and into her lungs.

“It was quite a shock,” Jackie said, looking back on how it all started.

After three weeks of chemotherapy in Boston, the family returned to Maine, where Jackie quickly began a second round of treatment at Eastern Maine Medical Center.

Throughout it all, the family tried to keep things as normal and routine as possible.

Jackie’s younger sister, Sam, was 8 years old when her sister was diagnosed.

“It was really confusing because I was really little,” Sam, now 14, said. “I really didn’t understand it.”

The experience of dealing with such adult issues left the Blanchard girls “wise beyond their years,” Sherry Blanchard said.

“They both matured way faster than I think they should have.”

Jackie’s current treatment plan is done at home with medication, but she undergoes tests every three months to ensure that the cancer hasn’t returned.

And months of Jackie being poked and prodded by doctors caused the family to stay positive.

“We’ve had to stay positive, and I think that’s really helped a lot keeping things in perspective,” Sherry Blanchard said.

A sense of humor also has helped the family make it through together.

“We can watch ‘House’ now and know what they’re talking about,” Jackie said jokingly, referring to the popular medical drama on Fox TV.

Although she missed about two years of school because of her illness, Jackie kept up with tutors and anxiously is counting down the next 25 days until she graduates third in her class at Central High School.

“In the face of the rigors of cancer, Jackie has not been able to return to the sports and activities that she loved,” Sherry Blanchard wrote in the letter nominating her daughter.

The cancer hasn’t stopped Jackie from living, but with the modifications she’s had to make to her lifestyle, “everything’s a lot different than it would have been,” Jackie said.

She had to stop playing basketball and softball, but took up golf and for the past two years was a member of Central’s golf team. Jackie missed making the state competition by one stroke, and was the only girl on her school’s team this season.

Her list of activities and accomplishments is long and includes class president, National Honor Society, Dirigo Girls State, a member of the school’s peer mediation program, and Project Adventure Club.

“Jackie handles it better than I do. I know that,” Scott Blanchard said. “I don’t know how she does it.”

“It’s amazing how you get really inspired by these little kids,” his wife added.

The Old Town Relay For Life will be held May 18-19 at Old Town High School.

For more information, to volunteer or register as an individual or a team, call the American Cancer Society at (800) ACS-2345 or visit www.acsevents.org/ relay/oldtown.