Every day, junior Chelsea Shock wakes up and thinks back to the most challenging and life-changing day she has ever experienced.
As soon as then 11-year-old Chelsea walked into her house from school, she knew something was wrong. She walked upstairs to her mom’s room and found both of her parents sitting there, silently preparing to tell her the heartbreaking news.
Thinking about all the possibilities it could be, Chelsea fearfully asked, “Mom, do you have cancer?” “Yes,” replied Betty Shock, a now five year Hodgkin’s lymphoma survivor.
After finding out about her mom’s diagnosis in 2003, Chelsea did not automatically know how sick her mother was going to get. Betty’s cancer was wrapped around her sternum, and although she had stage two, she was treated as though she had stage four. This meant more intense radiation treatments, which made Betty feel as though she had swallowed nails. “It is crazy to think how someone could be that sick. Mom never lost all her hair though; it just became very thin and short,” said Chelsea.
From that point on, Chelsea immediately knew she wanted to help the cause. Betty then got involved with Team in Training, a sports training program that is connected to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.”It really hit me that I wanted to do something with my life originally at the Team in Training event, the night before my mom’s first marathon. I listened to all of these people share their stories, and I asked my mom if I could run with her the next day. Of course, I couldn’t because I hadn’t trained, but I definitely regret not doing it with her,” said Chelsea.
In her mother’s honor, Shock started a foundation and a website called ShockCancer to support others affected by the disease.”We tried to think of a name, and then we thought of ShockCancer. It just stuck. It was perfect,” Shock said.
Besides functioning as a support system by hearing stories of others affected by cancer and giving advice, Chelsea’s website has a variety of links and updates for fundraising and events. On September 10, Chelsea held a successful event sponsored by and held at Italian Sensations in Fallston. With the help of the community, the event raised over $750 from generous donations and percentages of meals purchased. “I want to thank everyone from the bottom of my heart for coming out to support me,” Chelsea expressed. There was also another event for ShockCancer at La Tolteca in Churchville on September 29, in which over $1600 was raised.
Besides holding events, giving support to others, and getting donations from the community, Chelsea and her mother have been hard at work in preparation with the Maryland chapter of Team in Training. On October 18, the mother/daughter duo will be running along with 20,000 other participants in the Nike Women’s San Francisco Half-Marathon, which benefits the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. Of those runners, about 25 percent are partners with Team in Training.
Although Chelsea’s main goal of the fundraising was to sponsor her mother and herself in the upcoming run in San Francisco, she does not plan to stop there. “I have spent so many hours thinking about what more I can do like working on my website and fundraising. I absolutely love doing this,” Chelsea stated. “I never thought I was capable of doing what I have done within the past few months. So that goes to show, never say you can’t do something. Anything is possible.”
For more information on ShockCancer or to contact Chelsea visit www.shockcancer.com
Taylor Schafer can be reached for comment at [email protected].