How I Got Ewing Sarcoma, a Rare Cancer

Ok, I’m going to get into some really deep scientific stuff on how I got my rare cancer.

The truth is…

There's no cause for Ewing sarcoma other than just a plain ol' DNA break.

Some cancers are genetic, inherited from our parents.

Other cancers are environmentally specific.

Then other cancers are cells breaking down and rebuilding erroneously. And that was the case for me.

During my first meeting with my sarcoma oncologist at Moffitt, I remember tearfully asking, “Why? Why did this happen?” I think most newly diagnosed patients ask the same thing – especially us “younger folk.” We wonder what in the world we did to deserve this.

The doctor was adamant it was nothing I did (I asked a few times over the course of treatment). It was not a lifestyle thing. It wasn’t an environmental thing. It was a random thing.

That doesn't keep me from wondering though. I keep wondering if there was one little moment in time that I could have somehow prevented. A sneeze, a stressful event, an extra scoop of peanut butter. What IF?

But what can you do? In my case, there's nothing. So I have learned to appreciate every single moment I’m alive right now, knowing that it could change in a split second.