This is my 4th year doing the PMC. Last year was great and the support that I received from everyone, including strangers along the way was amazing! This year I will be riding with a team in hopes to raise $100,000 for sarcoma research. Help me and team "Stirling Strong" reach our goal!

Until I was 18 my health record was more or less perfect. With the exception of an occasional cold and stitches that I had to get when I was 5, I was a healthy teenager with no family history of life-threatening diseases. Well everything changed during my freshman year of college at the University of Vermont. At the end of field hockey season,

I noticed a bump above my right knee. I went to see the trainer and asked him what it could be. He immediately sent me to get an x-ray, and the next thing I knew I was sitting in an office being told by a doctor who I didn't even know that I had cancer. I laughed at him. How could one x-ray tell him that I had cancer? He sent me to get an MRI, which lasted 3 1/2 hours, and then I drove home that weekend to Massachusetts. With my parents I met with a team of surgeons and oncologists at MGH to determine the plan of action. After a biopsy confirmed that it was Osteosarcoma, a type of bone cancer, I started my chemotherapy treatments right away.

Three weekends in a row I would travel to Boston for treatments, and then I would have two weekends off. This continued for three months until I had a total knee replacement with the removal of 20 cm. of my femur. I started up chemotherapy again a month later and continued until October. I never took any time off from school and it was no big deal, right? I was convinced that I was going to be back on the field hockey field in September. Not so much. My knee had a lot of scar tissue build up and it didn't want to bend at all. I worked with a physical therapist and it was decided I needed a knee manipulation. So they bent my knee while I was under anesthesia and since then I have worked hard to regain normal function. Although my knee still isn't where I would like it to be, I am definitely making improvements everyday. I can snowboard, hike, cross country ski, bike and even more. My team and I even created several plays my senior year to get me into 8 field hockey games throughout the season. Not running, but taking shots on net! My team was so amazing throughout everything I went through and I wouldn't have been able to do it without all of their support on and off the field.

Since then, I have had 3 lung surgeries and a left nephrectomy, to remove spots on my lungs and a kidney that was filled with metastatic osteosarcoma. Luckily, the margins around the kidney are clear, but my oncologist decided I needed more chemo because obviously it was still lingering somewhere. I have been doing chemo since last January and trying to find one that works. Hopefully we will find the right one soon!

On August 4th and 5th I am planning to participate in the Pan-Mass Challenge, a major fundraising bike ride across Massachusetts from which all proceeds are donated to the Jimmy Fund for cancer research. The ride is a 163-mile Wellesley-Bourne-Provincetown over two days. I haven't been training much because of chemo, but hopefully will start soon and be good to go by August. Last year was much easier than the first year I rode, but this year will definitely be a challenge. Hopefully I will be done chemo before the ride, but if not, I will figure out a way to train and still ride!

I realize that everyone is feeling the effects of the economy right now, and trying to cut back on their spending, but this ride means so much to me. Participating in this event is a way for me to give back to all of the people who made and continue to make it possible for me to be alive and still walk today. Cancer research is so important and I am so lucky to have a type of cancer that is treatable and well understood.

II have started working in the Neonatal ICU at Beth Israel and it is so rewarding being able to give back and work with the little tiny patients and their families. I absolutely love it!

 

Each year I dedicated this ride to my stepfather, Rey Moulton, who was diagnosed with colon cancer one month after I was. He wasn't as lucky as I was -- he died in early 2006, but he gave one heck of a fight. Rey was the most amazing person I have ever met and I know he would be so proud of me for doing this ride.

To all of my friends and family who helped me through everything, thank you so much. I owe it to everyone for where I am today.