Amanda Nickens wants to give her baby girl a better chance at life than what she has endured in her 20 years.

“My biggest fear is that I might have some of those things that may make me not a good mom,” said Nickens, of Barstow, Ill.

But don’t bet against her becoming a great mom.

Nickens has overcome a myriad of tragedies, hardships and emotional and physical scars that she says are motivating her to become a better example as a mother. In fact, her long-term goal is to help others faced with similar problems.

Nickens was nominated for Wish List Quad-Cities by Lisa Thomas, her doula through the Child Abuse Council’s Healthy Family’s doula program. Thomas helps Nickens with physical, emotional and informational support before, during and after the birth.

“Amanda is special,” Thomas said. “She gets out there and does what she needs to do. She is very resourceful. She was very open and honest about her past behaviors. She’s really had a rough life.”

Her struggles started early.

As a tiny baby, she said her mother would drop her off at friends’ houses for long periods of time. She eventually basically abandoned Amanda, who went to live with her grandparents in Barstow. They raised Nickens for most of her life. A few years later, she tried to live with her father, who was in prison when she was born, but that didn’t work out.

At age 13, Nickens began experimenting with drugs. By age 16, she said she was trying the “harder stuff.” She eventually dropped out of school.

About a year ago, though, she received her GED, kicked the drug habit, and got a job and her own apartment. However, that all changed when she came home Feb. 13, 2009, to find her then-boyfriend in her apartment, dead of a drug overdose.

“I relapsed,” said Nickens, referring to her drug habit. “I lost my apartment and job and him, all at the same time. But soon, I found out I was pregnant and I stopped (crack cocaine) immediately.”

Today, she is attending Brown Mackie College in Moline to become a medical assistant, ready to graduate Dec. 22. She has been homeless for months at a time, but is set to move back in with her grandparents soon.