Edwin Rivera

It started with a few months of knee pain, didn’t know where it came from but it was acute, and with time the pain got worse, at first the duration of the pain would come and go in the matter of days, then it got to where it interfered with work and school. To the point that I called out of work completely, and if I was in school I was in the nurses office all day. Of course I went to the hospital many times before but each time they said it was probably a torn meniscus. The scans they were giving me aren’t enough to say other wise. Until I went to a specialist that realized the swelling and amount of pain I was in. I needed an MRI that was approved by insurance until a month after. Got the MRI done and before I knew it, my doctor told me it was a tumor. After my biopsy it was confirmed that I had a bone cancer called Ewing sarcoma. After that, it’s been nonstop chemo therapy for a good year. In the middle of the treatment I had to get the tumor removed. The tumor was too big to take out just the tumor itself so I had a complete knee replacement surgery done. It was a struggle and probably the worst month of my life, however with enough therapy, I walk like it never happened, I still can’t run. Fast forward a few months of treatment and scans I kept high spirits. I been surrounded by great people that made it so much easier to get by, but as I finish up treatment the bills are sneaking up on me, reminder that I couldn’t work or go to school for a year and my families already in a bad spot as it is. So anything helps :)