In 2022, at just 33 years old, my life changed in a way I never could have imagined. One month after getting engaged to my partner of 11 years, I was diagnosed with myxoid liposarcoma, a rare form of cancer.
Suddenly, the future I had been so excited to plan looked very different. I began treatment with chemotherapy, radiation, and surgery. It was a long and difficult road, but when it was over, I believed I was done with cancer. I thought I could finally put that chapter behind me and get back to living my life.
And I did.
In 2024, I got married to the person who had stood beside me through it all. I was building the life I had fought so hard to keep.
Then, in early 2025, we learned that the cancer had returned.
Once again, I found myself facing the uncertainty of metastatic disease and everything that comes with it. While cancer has changed the way I think about the future, but it has not taken away my hope for it.
Through every step of this journey, I have been incredibly fortunate to receive care at The James Cancer Hospital and Solove Research Institute. I truly believe the care I've received there not only saved my life, but has helped ensure that I can continue to thrive, not just survive.
The Harry Potter books have always been my favorite book series, but during treatment, they became more than something I loved. They became a way to escape when cancer was all I could think about—a familiar world I could return to when everything around me felt frightening and uncertain. Reading became a form of self-soothing, giving my mind somewhere safe to go when my body was going through so much.
That's why our team name for this year's sarcoma walk is Lumos for Loren.
In the Harry Potter books, Lumos is the spell that creates light. For me, that light represents hope—the hope that has carried me through diagnosis, treatment, recurrence, and metastatic disease. It represents the people who have stood beside me, the doctors and nurses who have cared for me, and the researchers working every day to give patients like me more options.
We're taking the darkness that cancer has brought into our lives and working to turn it into light.
I want more than extra time. I want more birthdays, more anniversaries, more adventures, more pages to read, and more ordinary days with the people I love. I want a future that is filled with life—not defined by cancer.
That is why this fundraiser and sarcoma research matter so much to me. Every dollar raised helps move us closer to better treatments and more options for people living with metastatic disease. It helps give patients like me something incredibly important: more years filled with hope and the promise of new treatments.
