After 15 months of being hooked up to tubes and feeling nauseated and exhausted while fighting the aggressive cancer that had hijacked her childhood, Elana Koenig couldn’t wait to leave Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City and go home in May 2017. “On the last day of treatment, I was ecstatic to finally be out,” says Elana, now 14, who underwent intensive chemotherapy and 15 surgeries starting when she was 7 to treat Ewing’s sarcoma, a rare bone cancer she developed in her femur.
Too sick to attend school or see classmates, she recalls being “surrounded by all these needles, all this pain, all this suffering. And that’s a hard life for someone who’s so young.”
But as she said her goodbyes, she was hit with an unexpected wave of wistfulness over pals she was leaving behind. “Even though I was done with treatment, others were still suffering,” she says. Standing in the hospital lobby, she told her mom, Rena, she wanted to use the $900 in her piggy bank at their Manhattan apartment to support children in cancer treatment. “I wanted to help kids who went through what I went through,” she says.
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Denne historien er fra July 24, 2023-utgaven av People US.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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31 Food Faves!
THE PEOPLE, STORIES AND TRENDS THAT INSPIRED US THIS YEARIN AND OUT OF THE KITCHEN
WILL FERRELL AND HARPER STEELE'S 30-YEAR FRIENDSHIP - TWO FOR THE ROAD
THEY MET ON SNL AND FORGED A LIFELONG FRIENDSHIP. NOW, WITH THEIR CROSS-COUNTRY DOCUMENTARY, THEY'VE CREATED A LIFE-CHANGING FILM
Kate Winslet's Bold Gamble
THE ACTRESS AND PRODUCER OVERCAME SEXISM AND SELF-DOUBT TO BRING THE STORY OF WWII PHOTOGRAPHER LEE MILLER TO THE SCREEN
NELLY FURTADO NEVIS - FINDS SWEET HARMONY WITH DAUGHTER
THE POP STAR AND MOM OF 3 000 BUILT A UNIQUE BOND WITH HER OLDEST CHILD AND WORKED THROUGH HER BIGGEST HEARTBREAK WHILE MAKING HER NEW ALBUM
JENNIFER ANISTON - Puppy Love
INSPIRED BY HER OWN BELOVED DOGS, THE STAR LAUNCHES A SERIES OF CHILDREN'S BOOKS AND A FUND TO HELP ANIMAL RESCUES.
A Lot of Love, Just Not a Lot of Time
SKYLAR BERNSTEIN IS A 22-YEAR-OLD RECENT COLLEGE GRAD-AND SHE'S DYING. BUT A CHICAGO-BASED GROUP HELPED HER, JUST LIKE HUNDREDS OF OTHERS, HAVE A 'DREAM' CEREMONY WITH THE LOVE OF HER LIFE.
KRISTEN BELL - Living by Her Own Rules
THE SELF-DESCRIBED NURTURER TALKS ABOUT HER THEATER BEGINNINGS, GRAVITATING TOWARD JOYFUL PROJECTS AND WHY SHE ALWAYS PUTS FAMILY BEFORE WORK.
Sean Diddy' Combs INSIDE HIS SHOCKING SEX CHIME 'CHARGES
THE RAPPER AND MOGUL NOW SITS BEHIND BARS, ACCUSED OF RUNNING A CRIMINAL ENTERPRISE RESPONSIBLE FOR HUMAN TRAFFICKING, KIDNAPPING, ARSON AND MORE WHILE ABUSING NUMEROUS PEOPLE. WHAT'S NEXT AS HE VOWS TO FIGHT THE ALLEGATIONS
LISA MARIE PRESLEY'S DAUGHTER RILEY KEOUGH - 'I Want to Give Voice to My Mother'
A MONTH BEFORE HER SUDDEN DEATH, LISA MARIE ASKED HER DAUGHTER RILEY KEOUGH TO HELP HER FINISH HER MEMOIR FROM HERE TO THE GREAT UNKNOWN. NOW RILEY IS SHARING HER MOM'S 'EXTRAORDINARY, VERY HUMAN' STORY
Kate Middleton Makes Her Return to the Public Eye
Princess Kate was seen in public for the first time since her chemotherapy ended when she joined Prince William at church near Balmoral Castle in Scotland on Sept. 22.