Harper is sweet, funny and athletic. She’s a social butterfly who loves hanging out with her brothers and her friends. In April 2017, Harper was found to suffer from undifferentiated embryonal sarcoma, a type of liver cancer.
When her family learned she had cancer, they embraced Harper’s journey like they embrace a race.
“Harper is resilient, she has the best attitude,” said her mom, Lauren. “When we learned she had cancer, I told her it’s just like a race, there are miles that are going to be bad, and there are miles that are going to be good, but there’s always going to be a finish line. We’re going to finish this. We’re going to win.”
At St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital®, Harper underwent surgery to remove the tumor, followed by chemotherapy and radiation therapy. Treatments invented at St. Jude have helped push the overall childhood cancer survival rate from 20 percent to 80 percent since it opened 50 years ago.
Harper finished treatment in October 2017 and now visits St. Jude for regular checkups. She’s thrilled to be back to doing the things she loves most: swimming and throwing shot put. Before her diagnosis, Harper was a competitive swimmer, with freestyle and butterfly her strongest strokes, and a nationally ranked shot putter.
“I cannot image our world without St. Jude in it,” Lauren said. “We’re forever grateful for everything they’ve done for us. When we come for appointments, Harper says it feels like home. And it does, it’s a part of our home now.”
