The night before her first chemotherapy treatment, Alexandria “Alex” Palmer wanted to cheer for St. Vincent-St. Mary High School one last time.
With her arm extremely sore and potential complications too risky after surgery to insert a port near her clavicle, that would not be the case.
But the 18-year-old senior from Cuyahoga Falls remains upbeat after a mass in her left foot was diagnosed as Ewing sarcoma in mid-January. Two weeks ago, she learned the cancer had metastasized to two spots on her lung.
The bone cancer is primarily found in children and young adults ages 10 to 20. About 50 cases of her variant are discovered each year in the U.S., friend Gus Khayyat told an estimated crowd of 1,200 Tuesday night at a “Pink Out” — her favorite color — for Alex as the Irish hosted Walsh Jesuit for a boys basketball game.
Two rounds of aggressive chemotherapy began Wednesday at Cleveland Clinic, with foot surgery to remove most of the tumor possible after the first round. Hours before, Alex, a 5-foot spitfire who was a flyer on the cheerleading squad, showed no hint of fear.