The backbone of the ACS Familia is Emily Phillips. She is known by many as "Captain Badass". She truly is one of the coolest gals I know, not to mention she has a constant positive attitude and fun sense of humor that is simply contagious.
This summer she participated in a 3 mile race- making her my official hero, we all know how I feel about the water. This summer she for sure motivated me to get my butt out in the water when I didn't want to. I share with you her story:
In July of 2002, while I was home from college and enjoying my summer vacation, unaware of what life was about to bestow upon me – I was diagnosed with bone cancer - a malignant fibrous histiocytoma sarcoma to be exact. It's rare. MFH Sarcoma only accounts for 1% of the new cancer cases in children each year. It is a soft tissue cancer, but mine happened to be inside of my femur. Bone cancer? How did I go from a slight pain in my leg to a tumor? Young people get cancer?
My world was turned upside down. Instead of going back to school to start my junior year of college, I was thrown into the medical world. RUSH was my new home away from home. Nurses became my new best friends and there became a new sense of normal in our family. Blood counts, hourly temperature checks, baldness, what sounds good to eat today, medications, buckets, and hospital stays just becomes part of the normal, everyday routine. This should not be anyone’s normal, but there was no other choice.
From August of 2002 to December of 2003, I did 22 rounds of chemo. I spent 182 days in the hospital at Rush – my Mom probably stayed with me 181 of those days. Looking back, I don't know how I did it - I don't know how we did it.
On October 31, 2002 I had limb salvage surgery to remove the tumor that was inside my femur. Removing the tumor meant that they had to take out the lower 6 inches of my femur, along with 2 quad muscles, and replace it with a modular oncology prosthesis – a titanium rod of sorts. As a result of the surgery I am able to walk, dance and swim but unable to run, jump, or do high impact activities. If I’m being honest, I never really liked running anyways – nor was I that good at it. I am lucky. 10 years ago, if you had a bone tumor in your leg, they used to amputate, so I’m lucky to be able to d
o the things that I can. This is why swimming is a big deal to me.
Swimming is one of the 'sports' that I can do - it is a low impact workout that leaves my leg pain free. I may not be able to run and jump or walk for miles - but I can swim. Training for this race gives me a goal to work towards. I can only imagine the feeling that I will have as I cross that finish line, knowing I just swam 3 miles in the open water. I think I could consider myself an athlete after finishing that race.
I wouldn't change going through the cancer experience. It makes you appreciate the important things in life. I’m doing this race in memory of my friend James – who taught me it’s ok to eat Doritos, drink Coke, and do laps in the hospital with your IV pole while on chemo. I’m also doing this race in honor of the “Gimpy Gang” – James, Kelly O, and Lindsay – as you have all been there, done that.
Emily has been working hard all season leading up to this 10-10-10 event to make sure that this weekend is awesome for our DetermiNation athletes. However, this weekend she is going to have to participate from the sidelines. I know this must frustrate her and so this weekend, Jenn and I run this race for her. Another blurb from an email she sent today:Last Tuesday, I went to my orthopaedic surgeon at RUSH because I was having some leg pain and thought I needed to get it checked out. While I was there, the prosthesis in my leg cracked completely in half. This is the prosthesis that was put in my leg when I had my bone tumor removed. I'm extremely lucky that this happened while I was at the doctor's office, otherwise I would have needed to go to the hospital via ambulance. I was admitted to the hospital on Tuesday afternoon and had surgery this past Thursday to replace the prosthesis in my leg. I'm grateful that it is a problem that could be fixed, and not a cancer or tumor related problem.
I took the liberty to include a pic she posted on facebook to show how badass she truly is. Get stronger soon Emily so you can join me in the pool! Or you know, maybe join us at a bar for a celebratory beer :) (or two)
As always, any donation is always greatly appreciated :)
