A Tribute to Pierre, Ewing's sarcoma survivor

Pierre, Ewing's sarcoma survivor

Pierre is an unbelievable young man. He's very interested in people, sports, fun activities...life! He's a fine climber (indoors and out), which he still practices now that he lost his leg to Ewing's Sarcoma. When we discussed his amputation, we listed the things he couldn't do anymore with a prosthesis, but we also found things he would gain from it, like no cold feet when skiing anymore! :-) Did you know that you can even ride a scooter with one leg? Check out the video below if you want to know how! You can also find about his climbing on Pierre's blog.

During the disease and its treatment, Pierre was smiling most of the time, despite the tough times. The first two chemos were terrible. But starting with the third one, it became a bit easier. Pierre would discuss everything with the nurses and doctors, even playing Buzz in the hospital corridors. He was treated at the Hopital de la Citadelle in Liege, Belgium by a wonderful team led by doctors Claire Hoyoux and Patricia Forget. These ladies just do miracles! Indeed: they saved our Pierre!

Today Pierre is in great shape. He goes to school and has good marks (even though he would prefer to do things other than go to school). He has adjusted pretty well to his leg prosthesis and he surpasses himself at climbing, riding a bike, swimming, table tennis.... His parents do have spikes of stress for every PET scan, but it gets better with time. Life has changed for the whole family: we are all well aware of life's fragility, brevity and wonders!

We believe that research for rare children's cancers is very important. Because of their rarity, these sicknesses do not receive much attention and research funding. So helping to fund research with your donations is very important. And you can trust the Liddy Shriver Sarcoma Initiative: I know Bev and Bruce Shriver personally (we met during a sarcoma bike tour!). They are just wonderful people giving an enormous part of their time to this initiative in memory of their lost daughter. At least 97% of your donations in honor of Pierre will be used for peer-reviewed sarcoma research. We hope that this research will better the lives of countless people who face this disease, both now and in the future.

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