Carleyโs Story:
In the summer of 2009, Carley Rutledge, a healthy, athletic 15 year-old, began experiencing mysterious pain in her lower back. Months of doctor visits and physical therapy sessions followed, as her condition was erroneously thought to be muscular and treatable. Carley tolerated and at times ignored the persistent pain, persevering through sports and other physical activities hoping the condition would resolve itself, but it never did. Finally in April 2010, Carley received an MRI and a shocking diagnosis: Stage IV Ewing Sarcoma. Because her tumor was without the option of surgery, the doctors at Cook Childrenโs Medical Center in Fort Worth, Texas, immediately began chemotherapy treatments, followed by 43 days of radiation treatment in MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas. Carley was able to complete her senior year and graduate with her classmates and is currently attending college in Colorado. However, the sobering truth is that the incidence of recurrence of most AYA cancer is high, with few options for effective treatment. This is why Carley, her family and friends knew in order to increase awareness, improve treatment and cure rates knew they had to help make a difference for all those adolescents and young adults and their families afflicted with this terrible disease.
