Meet Amanda Lyons, one of our Jingle Bell Jog '22 Recipients
Meet Amanda Lyons
Ewing’s sarcoma, a cancer that most often occurs in and around the bones, mostly seen in males between the ages of 10 to 20 years old. In other words, this cancer is extremely rare to be seen in adults, but not impossible. Amanda Lyons is one of the rare cases.
Amanda Lyons, a 31 year old poet and artist, had her world radically changed. In early 2021, Amanda was living near the Laguna Beach area and had discovered what seemed like a cyst on her face. She visited over 15 different doctors, spent 9-12 hours in different ERs, had several misdiagnoses, and overall was told to “go home and not worry”. This growth on her face caused her sleepless and painful nights. This mysterious growth came back to be cancer
In July of 2021, Amanda was officially diagnosed with a rare and aggressive form of Ewing’s sarcoma, which is mainly seen in young boys in the knee or hip area. Due to the strange location and this being on her face, her doctors in California didn’t feel comfortable treating her. So Amanda packed up her life in a week and moved back home to Boston where she began treatment at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute. Prior to starting treatment Amanda did as any young female might do, she froze her eggs and had to pay out of pocket for this massive expense to have any chance of having children in the future.
Come September of 2021 and Amanda began her 8 month plan of treatment. This journey was more than a full time job, spending 50 hours a week, being up at 7 AM and not getting home until 8 or 9 PM due to the severity of the treatment she received. Amanda mentioned that she received 49 chemotherapy sessions that “broke me in every way. I never knew what it was like to have cancer or experience it.” She also endured 32 radiation sessions on her face to beat this.
Throughout this treatment Amanda also had to have part of her cheek tissue removed and was left with partial facial paralysis. She recalls “towards the end it got very difficult and challenging, it totally shook my world around.” She also mentioned “I used to be running 7 miles every other day in Laguna but now even walking up the stairs is difficult as the chemo ate away so much of my bone marrow.”
Although Amanda was back in town where she grew up she couldn’t rely on her parents for a place to live. “Just this past month I have been in 4 different homes and right now I’m staying with a family friend on a blowup bed.”
Prior to her cancer diagnosis, Amanda's financial stability depended on her poetry and art but she hasn’t been able to work since. Amanda is currently in remission though and we couldn’t be more honored to name her as one of this year’s Jingle Bell Jog recipients.
