Throughout Dallas Salas’ life, he has been faced with opposition, including health scares and homelessness. However, despite the trials and tribulations, the 18-year-old has crossed off a major accomplishment.
At age five, Salas was diagnosed with leukemia, according to ABC News.
“It was truly a wrenching and heartbreaking experience. I remember staying up at nights and just crying and just screaming,” Salas told “Good Morning America.”
Along with Salas’ diagnosis, the outlet details that several of his family members were also dealing with health issues, which led him to want to learn about the science and medical fields.
Now, in the midst of challenges, ABC News reported that Salas graduated from Arizona State University with a bachelor’s degree in neuroscience at age 18.
“If you’re going through a lot of chaotic experiences, life is only 10% what happens to you and 90% of what you make of it,” said Salas.
The teen credits his mother, Constance, and Kristen Rund, his success coach, for motivating him to push through with securing his degree. Constance shared that since a young age, she knew that her son was gifted.
“All the time, he outsmarted me each and every time and I’m like, ‘wait a minute, he’s not like the others,'” she said. “So I raised him the same way that I raised them, however, with a stronger, more rigorous curriculum for parenting because his brain could take it.”
She continued, “I would give him assignments and he would bring them back really fast.”
Along with pursuing neuroscience, Constance noted that Dallas has “always been passionate about the children that end up on the border in the camps.” In the future, she envisions him helping to fight discrimination along with saving lives.
Regarding Dallas’ leukemia, he told the outlet that the cancer has gone into remission. The health update follows his bone marrow biopsy coming back clear of the disease.
