In the summer of 2019, my father was diagnosed with Stage IV prostate cancer. For days, my family spiraled while digesting this news and trailblazing a path forward. Surgery? Chemo? No options at all? I could not imagine my nuclear family of four, mom, dad, my brother, and I, reduced to just three.

Fortunately, my brother, Kevin, pushed to get an appointment with Matthew Smith, MD, PhD of Massachusetts General Hospital, a leading expert, researcher, and practitioner of genitourinary oncology. While we sat in his office as he looked over my father’s records, I couldn’t fathom how life had brought my family to this crossroad, and I couldn’t understand much of what Dr. Smith was saying over the anxious stream of thoughts running through my mind.

Dr. Smith and his team decided to run a course of treatment to manage the progression of my father’s prostate cancer. This treament was a bit experimental: combining two different approaches together to see if they would work simultaneously for my father’s case. The best outcome? An additional 2-3 years of life for my dad.

The timeline destroyed me. My neurosis had me calculating what year my dad was expected to pass from this horrible disease. While I was deeply grateful for Dr. Smith’s interventions and for taking on my father’s case, I could not get the short prognosis out of my head. In late July of 2019, I fell into a decent crater of situational depression.

I stewed in this mental state for weeks until a friend ripped me out of my bed and took me to my first boxing class. The absolute release from punching something began to clear the cobwebs that had accumulated in my mind; I finally felt energized and awake again, and I was so grateful to just feel something. Obviously, I had to go back.

This time, I went to a local gym, Title Boxing Club in Watertown. A trainer named Josh wrapped my hands, showed me the proper way to throw punches, and I was hooked — on boxing and Josh. I walked into Title every single day that fall and winter, and left each day clearer, happier, and healthier. Not to mention that I left with a pretty adorable (and super tough) boyfriend, too.

Fast forward nearly 5 years later, I am now fighting in my first amateur boxing fight with both my dad and my fiancé, Josh, by my side.

If it weren’t for Dr. Smith and his team, my life now would be a hell of a lot different. I owe so much to their expertise, research, and care that they’ve poured into my father and my family these past 5(!) years. Still to this day, my father’s prostate cancer levels are undetectable in his quarterly labs as his “double strike" treatment continues to work beautifully.

I am deeply honored to be doing something that I’ve grown to love, boxing, to raise money for the team and their research that have cared for and protected my first love, my dad.

Thank you so much for considering a donation to my campaign to #KOcancer this October!

Love,
Courtney