I'm Riding For

Caroline

This year I am riding in memory of Caroline. Sadly she departed this world in 2023. Here is her story: In 2012, Caroline was diagnosed with Primitive Neuro-Ectodermal Tumors (PNET) a rare type of brain cancer, when she was only 3 years old. There was no standard treatment for her type of cancer so she started on a treatment for a similar kind of cancer called Medulloblastoma. She went through 6 round of intense chemo therapy that didn’t do anything but cause side effects that she is still dealing with. When she finished the chemo-therapy, she went on to have radiation that was the most effective in shrinking her tumors. After all that, she was then stable for five years but would have MRI’s every three months just to make sure nothing changed. Everything was always stable! Then in March of 2020, while she was getting an MRI, she learned that her school was not doing in person learning anymore because of covid. Later that day she met with her doctor to look at the scans and they revealed that her cancer had started growing again. Everyone was shocked, that after all this time the cancer had come back. Sadly, even after 7 years there was still no standard treatment for her type of cancer. Their only option was to look for a clinical trial. They searched the entire country and learned there was only 1 trial that she was eligible for but it wasn’t even for her type of cancer. Thankfully, she has been in this trial for the past 2 years and doing well. Because of Caroline’s experiences, she was always passionate about advocating for better treatment options for kids with cancer. She participated in several pediatric cancer fundraising events even gave speeches in front of hundreds of people and helped to raise money to support childhood cancer research.