MacKenzie
Hometown: Pomeroy, OH
Diagnosis: Ovarian Cancer
Age on Race Day: 14
When Mackenzie came down with a fever, after a weekend of playing club basketball, she was taken to her local clinic for what turned out to be a bad case of the flu. While there, however, clinicians felt a worrisome mass in her belly. CT scans showed that Mackenzie had stage 3 germ cell ovarian cancer and needed to be transferred to Nationwide Children’s Hospital immediately as her tumor had started to rupture. Mackenzie underwent surgery the very next day to remove the tumor, and shortly after, began chemotherapy.
“Nationwide Children’s became our new home away from home for a while during surgeries, chemo treatments, hospital stays, appointments, tests, and more,” recalls Mackenzie’s mom, Juli. “The staff became our family away from family.”
Although her hair loss due to the chemotherapy was particularly difficult for her, Mackenzie had a great support system in her friends and family. Several members of that system shaved their heads, including her dad, whose haircut was administered by Mackenzie herself.
During Mackenzie’s first chemotherapy appointment, she had an anaphylactic reaction which left her scared and anxious during her treatments. She remained brave, however, and persevered. Mackenzie has since been in remission for over a year but continues to have follow up appointments to ensure she remains healthy. She is back to her active life, playing the trumpet, getting straight A’s and returning to sports. Recently, she was able to pull her hair into a ponytail for a basketball game for the first time since her diagnosis.
