Casey Baer and Molly Greenstone, two of Sydney’s 7th-grade friends from Heritage Middle School, also brainstormed a fundraiser to benefit Make Some Noise, a pediatric cancer research foundation. On Sunday, more than 1,000 people turned out for an event called Strike Out Pediatric Cancer, which raised about $30,000 for cancer research, said Mitch Katz, a family friend and one of the event’s organizers.We could not be more proud of Molly, her friends and all the people who joined with her for this great purpose.
Here is the full piece...
Community rallies around 12-year-old Livingston girl with rare bone cancer
Published: Wednesday, April 06, 2011, 8:00 AM
LIVINGSTON — Sydney Becker’s favorite color is pink — a neon, bubblegum-colored hue that pops. It’s the color of the wig she started wearing when her hair fell out from chemotherapy, and it’s also the color of the matching Converse sneakers she wears pretty much everywhere because her leg brace prevents her from wearing most shoes.
Until a few months ago, Sydney was a average Livingston 12-year-old, going to dance classes, reading the Harry Potter books and watching movies with her friends. Then in October, the softball fanatic hurt her leg sliding into third base during a playoff game for her traveling team.
When her knee still hurt two months later, her parents took her to a specialist. The doctor ordered a routine X-ray and found a tumor on her left tibia, or shin bone.
In January, Sydney was diagnosed with osteosarcoma, a rare form of bone cancer that the American Cancer Society says strikes about 400 U.S. children and adolescents a year and accounts for about 3 percent of childhood cancers. Overall, about 900 cases are diagnosed annually in the nation.
Friends, family and neighbors rallied quickly, cooking meals, providing rides to Sydney’s two siblings and offering moral support, said her father, Jeff Becker. That support was invaluable to Sydney’s stunned family.
"She went from being perfectly fine with no worries to two weeks later, spending every day in the hospital," Becker said.
Casey Baer and Molly Greenstone, two of Sydney’s 7th-grade friends from Heritage Middle School, also brainstormed a fundraiser to benefit Make Some Noise, a pediatric cancer research foundation. On Sunday, more than 1,000 people turned out for an event called Strike Out Pediatric Cancer, which raised about $30,000 for cancer research, said Mitch Katz, a family friend and one of the event’s organizers.
"There has been so much support," Sydney said this week. "It’s sad that it takes something so terrible to make people come together, but I am trying to stay positive."
Sydney said her friends wanted to help her recovery efforts but couldn’t drive carpools or cook dinner. They came up with they idea to do a fundraising run/walk, and that evolved into the softball-themed event to honor Sydney.
Raising the money for Make Some Noise was a no-brainer, Sydney said, because the organization has been so helpful to her in the past few months by putting her in touch with other pediatric cancer patients.
"Talking to other people my age is helpful, and especially people who have been through it," she said. "Adults try to be reassuring, but they don’t know what it’s like, and these kids do because they did the same thing."
Today, Sydney will have surgery at Memorial Sloan Kettering in New York to replace her tumor-infected bone with titanium. That, combined with another five months of chemotherapy, should keep the cancer from coming back, her father said.
Despite her illness, Sydney tries to keep busy. On Monday night she went to a Yankee game and got a special tour of the new stadium, and she is studying for her bat mitzvah next month.
She keeps an online journal chronicling her experiences, www.caringbridge.org/visit/sydneybecker, and also posts photos. She is particularly proud of the one that portrays her, grinning and bald, with actor Daniel Radcliffe, Harry Potter’s screen persona, whom she met last week after seeing him perform on Broadway in the play "How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying."
Sydney knows her surgery will keep her off the softball field for a while, but she’s hoping to be back in a few seasons, playing her favorite sport once again.
"I probably will not be running or sliding too much," she said, "but I am going to do the best I can."
No comments:
Post a Comment