i am going to do my best to write why i am here on caringbridge.com. i hope all of you that took the time to visit my page will take the time to read my story. it sure is interesting...

the beginning of my story goes back to 1999. i was a long distance runner for the arrowhead blaze. "my" races were the 1500 and the 800 meter. running always came easy for me, that's why in the summer of 99' when i would be warming up at practice i would become winded and not able to catch my breath. my parents both found this to be not like "erinn" so they decided to bring me to my physician. every doctor i met with came to conclusion that it was a healing fracture and to take advil for the pain whenever necessary. after a couple months of that my mom demanded a MRI. we were told to meet with an oncologist because many doctors were suspicious that this scan showed a potential tumor. i then met with my oncologist, dr. singer. she requested a biopsy and after having that i was officially diagnosed with a rare bone cancer called Ewings Sarcoma. it was located in my 11th rib on my left side. being only 12 at the time, my first scare was death and hair loss. i was going into 7th grade and this was the time when beauty was crucial. i started my first round of chemo therapy right before school started and the second day of school, my hair started falling out. i quickly got over that and went out and bought a wig. i made the spirtline which brought my confidence level way up. i went through 11 rounds of chemo and then it was time to remove the diseased rib. hands down, this was the worst pain i've ever had in my entire 12 years. the light was slowly but surley coming through the tunnel. i then had 6 more treatments and was finally CURED!

i was now cancer free and off to high school. i was a cheerleader at mountain ridge high school freshman through my junior year. i made lots of friends and had the time of my life. i continued to get check ups regularly and they always were able to share good news with my scans being clear. never did i think i would have to witness hell again...

now i was at the university of arizona rooming with my best friend kristy elsbecker. we were living on our own and living life. i started having trouble at night, not being able to sleep. i would wake up with a pain in my right side. after awhile of this, i finally told my mom. we met with my pcp and all agreed that it was probably just my gaul bladder causing me grief. but after a couple weeks i came home for the weekend to go snowboarding with some friends up in big bear, california. i was at dinner at my friend britta's house and somehow got on the topic of cancer. i felt back, self conciously on my missing rib and noticed a solid bump in it's place. my first thought was "oh my god, i have cancer." i ran home as quickly as possible to show my mom the bump. the very next morning she called dr. singer to tell her our news. she assured us that it wasn't anything serious and that there was only a 1% chance of it being cancer again. she told me to go have fun in big bear and that we could scan the following week. i went back to school that week and came home for a CT scan on friday. that monday my dad, mom, best friend JM, and i went to the cancer clinic to hopefully get some good news. dr. singer then told me that i had 5 large tumors in my lungs. i honestly didn't know how to react to this. i was in complete shock, everyone was. ewings sarcoma is an aggressive cancer and when it comes back it is very hard to treat. they wanted me in the next week to start treatment. this all took place in jan 06.

i have gone through many new treatments and radiation all in a year and a half. my hero drug is Avastin. it's a new antibiotic that is able to kill off cancer. it has been a huge help in killing my ewings. in the next month i'll have surgery to remove the only tumor left in my body, one right next to my heart. if the tumor is scar tissue or is a dead tumor then we will proceed on to transplant. this is take place the first week of june.

this is my shortened story of my life the past 8 years. i wouldn't trade it for the world.