Torrey Tkach

My Story

To some who may know I am a St.Jude patient. In August of 2020 I was having back pain and numbness in my leg. I soon found out that there was a tumor (myxopapillary ependymoma) at the end of my spinal cord. The surgeon told me as we both looked at the MRI that my season was over and I wasn’t going to be able to play volleyball that year. It was devastating for sure ,but at the same time I was hoping for a good outcome from surgery and my faith in God gave me that. I was able to fully recover after about 4 months and back to playing volleyball again. And for almost 5 years my scans were clear. In December only a few days after Christmas I was going for my semiannual scan and when the doctor came in I could see it on their face. That something was wrong before they showed me the scan. The new tumor was located lower in my spinal cord and was only a few millimeters big so the surgery was minimally invasive. The surgery was this February and two weeks post surgery I was told I would have get radiation treatment to help prevent it from coming back. This was devastating because I would have to be away from school and my team for 6 weeks. The side effects of the radiation were very hard on me and the treatment itself was even harder. I am so grateful for the amount of support I’ve had going through this whole process. My family, friends,old teammates,new teammates, doctors,God, even people like me who have gone through something similar ,and share a passion for sports. As an athlete sometimes you tend to endure your struggles alone and not ask for help but through this process I learned it’s fine to have help. Today marks the day that I am officially cancer free! Today is also where I start my journey back to getting stronger and better than I was before! Thank you to everyone who has been there for me I couldn’t have done this without you!God is so good!🤍#blessed