By Beret Leone
Click here for updates on this story
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) — It’s a group no one asks to be in—but when cancer sidelined her soccer star son, a Minneapolis mom wanted to make a safe space for families navigating childhood cancer.
16-year-old Tommy Schweinitz just finished his last round of chemotherapy Friday—but in a matter of eight months, his life flipped upside down. His parents went from soccer parents, to cancer parents—a journey many parents face alone.
“I was a really avid soccer player,” Schweinitz said. “I was playing basically every single day for almost a year straight.” It started with persistent knee pain made him pause.
“I couldn’t bend my knee, and it’s that’s just not normal. So we figured that we had to go to get it checked out,” Schweinitz said. It was a tumor — and a diagnosis: Ewing Sarcoma last fall.
“I knew something was wrong, but you never imagined something like cancer for someone who’s 16 years old,” Tommy’s Mom Liz Giel said. Ewing Sarcoma is a rare, relentless type of bone cancer.
“It’s they estimate or anywhere between 200 to 600 cases a year worldwide,” Giel said. The news came just as Tommy was headed to his junior homecoming dance—a gut punch. “We basically, like just kind of got everything thrown at us all at once,” Schweinitz said. Tommy didn’t falter. He was thrust into 14 rounds of chemotherapy, with surgery scheduled halfway in between. “I kind of took it as more of a I have to do this instead of a, why do I have to do this?” Schweinitz said. “As soon as we knew what it was, we talked to an oncologist, and on a Thursday, and she said, we’re ready to get you started on chemotherapy on Monday,” Giel said. Their family spent weeks in the hospital, making impossible decisions and ultimately decided on amputation to remove the cancerous lump.
“Just because me, personally, I’m super athletic. I want to be super athletic after this. Like, I don’t want any limitations,” Schweinitz said. “Many amputees live very active lives and go on to be incredible athletes,” Giel added.
Tommy’s lower right leg was removed in January – and he’s determined to get back on the soccer field. The teen plans to play in an amputee league this summer. “I just have never thought that I can’t do anything, like nothing in my mind has ever told me, like, you can’t do this,” Schweinitz said. “It’s been incredibly inspiring to watch him learn how to walk again, pick it up so quickly and have such an incredible and resilient mindset,” Giel said.
It’s a feeling Liz wishes she had earlier in their journey. Determined to change that, she launched Cancer Parent.
“I think a lot of families do struggle to find the stories that are hopeful, and Tommy is a perfect example of that,” she said.
It’s a space dedicated to providing resources, support and a sense of community for families navigating childhood cancer.
“I started Cancer Parent as a way to share more about Tommy’s story and cover everything from, you know, the highs and the lows and all of the milestones along the way, so other families could see that even in this really unfortunate circumstance, there’s resilience and there’s inspiration and there’s joy ahead of you,” Giel said.
It’s a journey far from over, but it offers a four-letter word that isn’t always seen in the same sentence as a diagnosis: hope.
“I think about our time in the hospital, and we spend way more time laughing and smiling than we do crying. Days are not always easy, for sure, but his strength is what leads us forward.” Giel said. Tommy moves forward with anticipation, over anxiety. “It doesn’t symbolize just ringing a bell. For me, it kind of symbolizes, like ringing in something new, just because, like, that’s what I want to do,” Schweinitz said.
Please note: This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.
Mom of Minnesota teen diagnosed with rare bone cancer creates support system for other “cancer parents” News Channel 3-12.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( Mom of Minnesota teen diagnosed with rare bone cancer creates support system for other “cancer parents” )
Also on site :
- Andrea Fuder, Chief Purchasing Officer at Volvo Group has tragically passed away
- Lawyer admits ‘embarrassing’ mistake after Anthropic’s Claude made up a source in a legal filing—and no one caught it
- Major companies are anxiously awaiting to see whether or not they will be targeted by the federal government for a DEI investigation