SALEM, N.H. — Weston Moss first felt the pain playing dodgeball when he was in third grade. Not knowing the difference between bone pain and muscle pain at the time, he didn’t think much of it until it came back a second time, and then a third.
“I got it checked out and they said I had bone cancer,” Weston said.
Like most pediatric cancers, research is underfunded but for rare cancers like Ewing Sarcoma, which Weston, now 11, was diagnosed with nearly two years ago, funds are even less.
On Sept. 21, the Salem Lions Club is hosting a 5K to raise funds that will benefit the Little Warrior Foundation which has raised over $4.6 million in the last four years to help scientists develop up-to-date treatment, fund research and find a cure for Ewing Sarcoma.
“As it currently stands, the disease Weston has is fatal. The best treatment options available right now will be at best extending his life by hopefully a few years,” said Kelly Moss, Weston’s mom.
“There are new treatment options being explored in some cancers that have fundamentally changed the outcome of terminal cancers, but they have not yet made it to Weston’s disease for research.”
From the onset of Weston’s treatment, he has undergone multiple radiation cycles and tried a variety of oral chemotherapy medications to both eradicate the cancer from his body and prevent other tumors from growing. The treatments worked in the interim and Weston was in remission until the cancer came back 15 months ago, and again this past summer.
“His doctor says he’s never seen someone last more than five years beyond relapse and Weston is now 15 months past his first relapse,” Moss said.
“This is why funding research is so important. We are basically racing against the clock to fund this research and hoping that the cure can be found in time for Weston and all the other kids like him.”
The disease has no known environmental or genetic causes and as it stands, this aggressive form of cancer has had no new treatments developed in 40 years. Because most available research funding goes toward adult cancers like breast cancer, leukemia and other common cancers, Ewing Sarcoma and other rare pediatric cancers see less than 4%, Moss said.
“There have been some difficult times, especially with the side effects but I think through all of it, it’s never really gotten super bad,” Weston said. “Most of the things that popped up at least I’ve been able to get through it and kind of look on the bright side of things.”
When Weston is not receiving radiation treatment or driving down to Boston for his regular scans and check-ups, he likes to build Legos, make crafts, play video games, draw and watch YouTube videos, he said. He has a vision for his own YouTube channel where he wants to show off the different Lego homes he’s built for his favorite Super Mario character, Goomba.
Some of his projects and crafts he sells at local craft fairs and donates 20% of his proceeds to the Little Warrior Foundation to help other kids like him. One day, he hopes to be a video game designer for Nintendo.
But until then, he’ll continue to make lemonade out of life’s many lemons, he said.
To sign up for the 5k Race Against Childhood Cancer, visit runreg.com/12981
To donate to the Little Warrior Foundation, visit littlewarrior.org