Foundation Spotlight: Megan
Megan Grygiel, a 16-year old dancer, high school student and cancer patient bravely lead hundreds of participants at the start the Inaugural Metal Walk at Soldier Field, in Chicago IL.
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Transcript
"Hi, I'm Megan Gryngiel, I'm seventeen. And I've been dancing since I was three years old. At a dance camp in the summer of two thousand eleven, my knee started bothering me.
We took her to the doctor, and the doctor confirmed our worst fears that she had bone cancer. Almost immediately, we started nine months of chemotherapy. A few months into the chemotherapy, she had surgery to replace her entire knee and part of her femur. After her chemotherapy, she started her recovery and rehabilitation at ATI. The ATI Foundation gave us some funds to help us out with our medical bills that we incurred because it's a very expensive procedure.
Megan was the honorary beneficiary at the 2012 ATI Metal Walk which was held at Soldier Field.
At the Metal walk last year, it was really exciting to be the honorary beneficiary
"Let's give her a round of applause!"
As we started off the race and everything, we walked through a huge metal detector. Metal detector symbolized for all of us that we're all there for a common cause, because we all have metal implants that help us get through our everyday lives.
I only wanted to do the short version of the walk, but Megan wanted to do the whole 5k, which we did.
I was determined to do the 5k, to prove to him that I could do it. I kind of felt, I made it through it, so we might as well 'Go Big, or Go Home.' So, I decided to do it and it felt amazing to actually complete the 5k.
Megan's doing great now. She was able to dance in a full dance routine for her dance recital, two months after her last chemotherapy. ATI Foundation has been great to our family, and we appreciate everything they've done for us.
Dance has always been a big part of my life. And even last year when I wasn't able to dance, I'd still come to class and hang out with all of my friends, be there to support them. So now that I can dance again, it's just like another part of me is back."