Muhammed Ali was definitely talking about the champions I know so well. The champions I know are my patients being treated at Boston Children's Hospital and The Jimmy Fund Clinic. From diagnosis "Day 1 Talk" to the bubble parade on the day of discharge from the hospital, these kids rally regardless of what punches cancer treatment throws at them.

Months of grueling toxic chemotherapy, transplants, numerous surgeries, setbacks, relapse scares, actual relapses, missing family and friends, not being allowed outside, Christmas in the hospital, birthdays in the hospital, "tubies" (ports and central lines), countless needle pokes, intractable pain, and most of all fear of the unknown. Those are only a few examples of the punches cancer throws day after day.

While the nurses assist with the skills to fight, our patients bring the unwavering and unstoppable will 24 hours a day 7 days a week. I'm stepping in the ring to fight because my patients DO fight for themselves, not because they can't. I'm fighting alongside them to prove that their skill and will transcends cancer treatment out of the hospital, out of clinic, and into the ring.

I'm also fighting for my Grammie Bev who beat cancer twice and my Poppa Julius who lives with cancer to this day. I'm so thankful that I will be able to connect with them during this experience and compare and contrast how my fight draws parallels to theirs.

Come see me fight to knock out cancer on October 10, 2018! Using lessons from my tiny best friends and my family, if I fight with my heart first then losing isn't an option.