Photo By Sgt. 1st Class Jeremy Bennett | Claire Russell, age 7, stands in front of her parents and brothers for a portrait on...... read more read more
Subscribe
BALTIMORE -- That Thursday night was just like any other, until it wasn’t.
The Russell family had been on edge for nearly two weeks, and now, they had the news no family could prepare for. At 4 years old, Claire Russell was about to begin the fight of her life against a tough opponent -- a rare form of childhood cancer called Ewing’s sarcoma.
It all started in April 2014, during a flight from Baltimore to Seattle. Claire was on her way to her cousin’s wedding, with the ever-important role of flower girl. The first couple of hours of travel went smoothly enough, but a sudden excruciating pain woke Claire from her nap.
“She looked at me with panic in her eyes and was just crying,” said Claire’s mother, Michelle.
On May 8, Michelle’s worst fear was confirmed. The back pain her daughter had recently mentioned wasn’t just the result of her love for gymnastics. There was a tumor.
It would be another two full weeks before Claire was given an official diagnosis at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore. That time was extremely difficult on the Russell Family, but Claire’s father proved to be a source of calm that everybody needed.
“I wanted to go through the steps before I really believed it was cancer,” explained Army Staff Sgt. David Russell, a multimedia noncommissioned officer for the Army multimedia and visual information department. “What that allowed me to do was remain calm and try to be there for my family.”
When the doctors came back with the results, the Russells began to learn all they could about the disease Claire faced. According to the Mayo Clinic, Ewing’s sarcoma affects approximately 200 children and young adults in the United States each year. The disease forms in or around the soft tissue of the bone, such as cartilage or nerves.
Once Claire knew the enemy, she did what any fighter would do; she built a team and prepared for victory. Fortunately for Claire, she didn’t have to look very far to find the right people to lead her to success. Her family would be there for her, and she for them.
“Though she be but little, she is fierce.” That’s the motto around which the Russell family rallied as Claire began her treatment. The phrase, borrowed from Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” captured Claire’s spirit in a way that nothing else could. Though she only weighed 38 pounds, Claire fought with the ferocity of a 200-pound world heavyweight champion.
Sure, there were days when Claire was exhausted, unable to sing, dance, and bounce around as she loved to do, but her family believed she would come out on top.
“My family was there to support me,” Claire said. “They distracted me from the pain and helped me get through everything.”
In December, seven months into Claire’s treatment, her older brother made a bold decision that showed just how much her family wanted to support her. At just 8 years old, Cohen declared that Christmas was on hold until Claire came home.
“It wouldn’t be the same without Claire,” Cohen said. “I wanted to wait until she came home.”
The family wouldn’t wait long as Claire made her triumphant return on Jan. 2, 2015.
Four months later, after just under a year of treatment, the news came that this family had been waiting so long to hear; Claire had delivered the knockout blow. On May 14, 2015, she was cancer free.
“I cried,” David confessed. “I was so happy we went the route we did, and it saved her life.”
The impact of Claire’s fierce determination and hard-fought victory reaches far beyond her family. Finding inspiration from their daughter, David and Michelle have started the Forever Fierce Foundation.
“Our heart is really in research. I don’t want these families to have to take their kid on this one last trip. I want there to be a cure like with all these other diseases we’ve cured. So our heart is really in research, and Claire’s [heart] is too,” says Michelle.
In the Johns Hopkins Hospital on Friday nights, the Forever Fierce Foundation is there, serving up tasty food and comforting families engaged in their own fights against cancer. Also there, helping alongside her parents, is a now 7-year-old cancer survivor who is full of life.
“I just really like getting to make those kids happy,” Claire explained. “I get to see my friends, and tell them it will be okay.”
The foundation seeks to increase the 4 percent of cancer research funding in the United States that goes toward combatting childhood cancers. David and Michelle aspire to donate $50,000-100,000 annually to that cause through their foundation.
Another part of the vision for Forever Fierce is that Claire might one day take the reins of the foundation. She’s already happily racking up plenty of experience each Friday night in preparation for leading the foundation to greater heights.
If David and Michelle grow weary, they don’t need to look any further than their own daughter for inspiration.
“I believe she has a purpose that is so big, and I think that she has already done more at seven than most people will do their whole life,” Michelle said. “I’m so proud of her.”
| Date Taken: | 09.06.2017 |
| Date Posted: | 09.07.2017 16:12 |
| Story ID: | 247351 |
| Location: | BALTIMORE, MARYLAND, US |
| Hometown: | SEATTLE, WASHINGTON, US |
| Web Views: | 714 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
This work, Forever Fierce, by SFC Jeremy Bennett, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
No keywords found.
