Nate's Team Crush Chondrosarcoma runs in loving memory of Nathaniel Merritt-Mervine (1978-2018) 

Nathaniel Carpenter Merritt-Mervine was a wonderful human being whose life was cut terribly short. He had diverse interests ranging from baseball to performing death metal music. Most of all, he was kind. As the most loving husband, uncle, and friend, Nate was a geriatric social worker at Jewish Family Services in Rochester, New York, and he made a tremendous difference in this world. He was diagnosed with Grade I chondrosarcoma in his foot (first thought to be benign after biopsy at MGH) and had a resection. The chondrosarcoma came back in his foot and Nate became an amputee. Nate, an avid runner, was no longer able to run, but he worked tremendously hard to adapt to his new reality. Then, the chondrosarcoma came back in his lungs and became terminal. Chondrosarcoma was debilitating and Nate often felt alone in his diagnosis. He lived to see the first Race to Cure Sarcoma in Cleveland and was touched to be surrounded by the love and support of the team from the Cleveland Clinic who assumed his care and tried to move mountains when the chondrosarcoma spread. Nate's Team Crush Chondrosarcoma continues on in his memory.