About Nic
Nic was diagnosed with Ewing’s Sarcoma in the spring of 2019, in the last week of his 6th grade school year. He had been experiencing leg pain which was attributed to growing pains, or sciatica by various physical therapists. He worked through the pain as a triathlete, a new passion he found and had even completed his first 10k a few weeks prior. Once diagnosed, the family was advised to seek treatment out of state, as resources for the rare and aggressive cancer were not available in Alaska. Nic received treatment at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore, MD so they could stay with his maternal grandparents and have family close by. He and his mom, Jane stayed in MD with dad, Pete and his then 16 year old brother, Jack, staying behind in Alaska for work and resume high school. Treatment for Ewing’s is tough, with a prescribed 14 rounds of chemotherapy every other week, and in Nic’s case, 6 weeks of radiation. After treatment which commenced in January 2020, Nic was able to return to Alaska to visit, enjoy a bedroom transformation orchestrated by fabulous Alaska friends, and get much needed friend time. He then embarked on an epic trip to Orlando for Universal and Disney. During the trip to Disney less than 6 weeks after treatment, his pain returned. Once back at Hopkins, scans revealed that tumors had returned in multiple areas and secondary chemo and therapies were begun. Added to this, covid threw a wrench into visits from friends, strict protocols for the clinic and any other further trips that could be taken, including a Wish trip to Paris. Despite all of these obstacles, Nic enjoyed life as much as possible, laughing, trying new things, enjoying family and every moment he had on Earth. Nic passed away peacefully on July 6, 2020 at the age of 13.
