HOUSTON -- A teenager who survived cancer and then helped those she never met is this month's Jefferson Award winner, KPRC Local 2 reported Thursday.

Kristin Elliott, 18, knows more about life than most students her age. Her life took a dramatic turn when she was on top of her game at age 16.

"I was playing volleyball and noticed my leg was swollen and hurting more than usual than my other leg," she said.

The pain prompted a trip to Texas Children's Hospital.

"We found out a few days later that it was cancerous, and it was sonovial cell sarcoma and it's very rare. Usually when they find it, it's too late and there's not much they can do," she said.

Kristin's tumor was the size of a grapefruit and stage 3. She then began chemotherapy with surgery and radiation to follow.

Doctors did not know if she would ever walk or use her right leg again.

A year after the initial diagnosis, Kristin was told the cancer had spread to her lungs. More surgeries followed.

But all the while, she said she knew that God had a plan for her and somehow, someone was going to benefit.

She went on a mission to Zambia with her mother and sister to work with the Camp Life Ministry.

"We had gone the last day of camp to the building grounds of where this ministry decided to build schools, a new campsite, and these orphan houses. I just remember standing there and listening to the founder of this ministry talk about what they were going to do, and I remember seeing the smile on his face, and I just thought I want to leave something in this place when I'm gone, back at school and not with my kids," Kristin said.

The idea for Kristin's Miracle House was born. It's a place for orphaned children with AIDS in Zambia to be loved and nurtured.

But she needed to raise $60,000. She persuaded the Make-A-Wish Foundation to contribute. Family and friends also pitched in.

"As of now, I have almost $300,000," she said.

The rest of the money will fund Kristin's Miracle Clinic for AIDS patients in Zambia.

Kristin's Miracle House has been finished and furnished.

Her entire family plans to visit Zambia next month.

If you ask how this young cancer patient did it, her mother would tell you the foundation was already there.

"She embraced it and she lived every day to the fullest and always was that way, but it was just accelerated, and when the doctors said, 'No, you can't do this,' we'd always smile at each other and say, 'Yes I can,'" said Terri Elliott, Kristin's mom.

"I've never been a person to try and focus on myself. I love to serve people. I love to help people. I don't like all the attention on myself. I really don't like the attention. The cancer was just kind of a side-note, took care of that, and I can keep moving forward and what I love to do, and what I love to do is help kids and serve people in any way I can," Kristin said.

Kristin is now a freshman at Baylor University, majoring in Sociology. She wants to continue to ministry work in Africa when she graduates. She's also cancer-free and goes back every six months for check-ups.

Kristin's fund raising and mission work continues. To learn more about it and how to contribute, visit www.kristinsheart.com.