Meet Ally Anderson

Her Story:

My name is Ally Anderson, I’m 15 years old, and I’m a Stage 4 cancer fighter. In September of 2018, I was diagnosed with Stage 4 Alveolar Rhabdomyosarcoma, an aggressive type of soft tissue cancer. I started chemo only a few days after my diagnosis, because of how far along my cancer was. I also had a pleural effusion, which is what initially brought me into the ER in the first place. They inserted a chest tube to drain the fluid. Only a few days after I started chemo, the fluids stopped producing. We think this is because the chemo was so aggressive and my body responded to it so well, that the tumor had shrunk significantly. I then continued chemotherapy treatments for 14 months, and in the midst of that, I also did radiation for a month straight, with only Saturday and Sunday off. 

Throughout my first battle with cancer, I was admitted numerous times into the ER with fevers and infections. When a cancer patient has a fever of 100.4 degrees or above, they are HIGHLY advised to go to the hospital. This being because fevers can be signs of anything serious when it comes to a cancer patient with a low immune system. Unfortunately, one of the times I was admitted to the ER, I missed a concert for one of my favorite bands, Twenty One Pilots. This was just one of the many events I missed due to cancer.

After 14 grueling months of chemotherapy, and one month of radiation, I was declared cancer free in November of 2019. I rang the bell at my hospital, indicating the end of treatment. A few months later, I went on my Make-A-Wish trip in Hawaii. All was good and I was spending every single day of my life to the fullest. I even returned back to school until the pandemic shut everything down.  But with the new school year, masks were mandated and we were able to return. Just a few months after returning back to school for the 2020-2021 year, I caught covid and had to quarantine. Barely a month after that, at my 3-month scans checkup, a little over a year after being declared cancer free, I relapsed. My cancer had unfortunately returned. It was so unexpected and sudden, but I knew I only had one choice and that was to go through it all again. 

The treatment plan for my second battle with cancer was different. This time my Oncologist didn’t have a plan for how long he wanted the chemo to go for. He just wanted to see how it goes and then he would figure out a plan. One thing that was different this time was that after we ran more tests, the cancer hadn’t metastasized. Meaning it was only in one area. This made it easier to figure out what to do. So my Oncologist decided, along with other members of Oncology, that I would be able to have the tumor resected. On January 4th 2021, I went in for my mass removal and port placement. It was a 5 hour surgery, and when I woke up I was in the most amount of pain I had ever been in. After I had healed from that, it was time to figure out the next steps. My Oncologist wasn’t exactly sure of what steps to take, but he knew for sure that I would be repeating radiation. So, in January I did a week of radiation, much less than I did my first time. The next month, I started chemotherapy; and then in the next, my hair began to fall out. It began to fall out on my pillow, my shirts, my jackets, everything. It was devastating but I knew it was all for being cancer free again. After 9 more months of treatment, I was finally declared cancer free after my scans on November 5th, 2021. 

But that didn’t last for long when this year, I relapsed 2 more times, all in a few months. It didn’t hurt any more or less than the last time, but I just became so confused and frustrated that it started to get harder to process. At 15 years old, I have been forced to think about my life and the end more than a kid should have to. This is why we need more funding, so that kids like me can live the way they deserve to. I don’t currently know what the future holds, but I do know that I will not stop advocating for pediatric cancer no matter what it takes.

I am beyond excited to be involved in this event. Thank you Mayor Jill Love and Jamie for giving me this opportunity. I feel that kids should not be faced with life-or-death situations. They should receive more than 4% of the federal funding for cancer. With fundraiser events like these, I believe that we can help raise money to fight cancer. Knowing and learning about cancer is important because it could be anyone. I thought it could never be me until it was, and I quickly realized how common it is. It shouldn’t take a diagnosis of you or someone you love to get involved. Thank you Ally!