Cancer can’t slow down Julianne
Finishing third at the Zone 3/4 high school cross country championships did not sit well with Saint Michael’s Julianne Miszk.
“She didn’t like being beaten out that day so she made me take her to Firemen’s Park on the Sunday and again on Monday before SOSSA (Southern Ontario Secondary Schools Association meet),” Julianne’s mother Bernadette Miszk said. “She was determined to be a little faster and she was.”
Julianne ended up beating her time from the previous week by two minutes at the SOSSA meet on Oct. 25.
“She started a little slower, but in the second half of the race she was able to kick it up,” her father Joe Miszk said. “She obviously hasn’t been running as much and she faded a bit the first week because she has just finished seven weeks of radiation.”
Julianne returned to school Oct. 1 and didn’t start running until the second week of October.
She loves being back at Saint Mike’s.
“I like being with my friends,” she said.
Julianne, a 2018 inductee into the Niagara Falls Sports Wall of Fame, ended up second at the SOSSA championships in the para girls division and she will be competing in this Saturday’s Ontario Federation of School Athletic Association’s meet at Christie Lake Conservation Area in Dundas.
Beamsville’s Shannon Swinson finished second to Julianne’s third at the zone meet, but the two runners switched positions at SOSSA.
“The only reason I beat her is because she had a cramp,” Julianne said.
Like a number of runners at the finish line — none of whom had gone through radiation treatments — Julianne threw up at the end of the SOSSA race.
“I threw up three times last week only because I had a waffle for breakfast,” Julianne said, with a smile. “I really wanted a waffle.”
The 20-year-old Niagara Falls native is ready for the challenge of OFSAA.
“I’m looking forward to running and getting another medal, but I doubt that,” she said. “Some of the girls are faster than me, but I am going to at least try.”
Julianne already has 10 OFSAA cross country and track and field medals on her resume, including four golds and two silvers in cross country.
“I want more to hang in my room and to say that I did it,” Julianne said.
Regardless of how she does at OFSAA, Julianne has already shown her championship pedigree in overcoming a marathon of medical misfortune.
Born with Dubowitz syndrome, a rare condition that has only about 140 cases reported worldwide since 1965, Julianne has had to cope with a learning disability, an uncommon bone disorder called fibrous dysplasia, surgeries and infections. Then cancer struck.
In November 2016, Julianne had surgery in which a section of her fibula (calf bone) was used to replace a cancerous part of the bone in her jaw.
She was in hospital for two weeks following the 10-hour surgery and had to fight off two infections.
She came home at the beginning of December and the family received the news that there was still cancer present at the margins of her jaw.
Following a round of chemotherapy, she had another 10-hour surgery done on July 5, 2017 at Toronto General Hospital. Doctors took a piece of her scapula (shoulder blade) and put it in her jaw.
On June 8 of this year, one day before Joe and Julianne were scheduled to participate in and be the speakers for the opening ceremonies of the Ride to Conquer Cancer, there was more bad news. Doctors determined the cancer had returned inside Julianne’s reconstructed jaw bone.
“They think there were active cancer cells right there and when the bones fused, then the cancer went into the new bone,” Bernadette said.
Doctors came up with a plan to take out the complete reconstruction, take the fibula from her other leg and reconstruct with a nerve ending from the top of her foot, and then follow it up with five weeks of radiation. Four hours into the surgery, they discovered so much scar tissue that they realized it was too dangerous to proceed.
“When I saw him in recovery, the doctor was having a really hard time with it,” Bernadette said.
What followed was seven weeks of radiation at Princess Margaret Hospital in Toronto. Julianne received radiation daily from Monday to Friday.
“Some days she asked for doubles and they asked her why,” Bernadette said. “The doctor looked at me and told me that it was pretty intense stuff that they were giving her and he asked her why she wanted to do it. She told him that she was tough and would suck it up. She wanted to get it done and get back to school.”
Julianne was a trooper throughout the whole ordeal.
“She is strong,” Bernadette said. “We walked a lot, we kept up with her diet, we did the saline soaks and she recovered really, really well compared to the other people who were having the same type of radiation.”
Julianne heeded most of her doctor’s advice.
They told me to drink water,” Julianne said.
“And they told you to take it easy,” Bernadette said.
“But I didn’t listen to that,” replied Julianne. “If I didn’t do anything, I would just feel bad.”
Throughout her own treatments, Julianne was thinking about other cancer patients. She created yellow and gold Julianne’s Journey of Courage Bracelets (gold for childhood cancer and yellow for her type of cancer). She initially wanted to donate the money raised to Sick Kids Hospital, but the Miszks decided to give the proceeds to Camp Ooch (Camp Oochigeas) to help purchase crafts for the summer camp for kids with cancer.
“If kids can’t get out of their rooms because they are getting blood transfusions, volunteers come to their room and bring crafts and things,” Julianne explained.
More than $3,000 was raised and Camp Ooch ended up splitting the proceeds with a hospital in London so it too could purchase crafts for childhood cancer patients.
Julianne’s latest project involves the Heaters Heroes charity, which helps local children in need.
“It’s goal is to grant every kid’s wish.” Bernadette said. “(Organizer) Mike Strange picks six or seven kids and each of them gets $500 towards a laptop, tickets to a game or something else.”
The Miszks have gotten more people involved in making the bracelets and about $5,000 has already been raised, including about $2,000 in sales at Saint Michael. The bracelets cost $20 and can be purchased at Betty’s Restaurant in Chippawa or at the County Basket Garden Centre in Niagara Falls. They’ve also started make men’s black bracelets for Movember.
Julianne continues to stay busy doing charity work with the Saint Michael’s Chaplains Crew and running. The latter helps keep her spirits up.
“It is therapy for both of us,” Bernadette said. “Any race that she finds out about, she wants to do it. And she likes the competition and the medals.”
Recently, mother and daughter did the five-kilometre race at the Niagara Falls International Marathon.
“She kicked my butt and the last two years I have been able to kind of pass her,” Bernadette said. “She did it in 26 minutes.”
The Miszks are hoping and praying the radiation treatments will kick the butt of Julianne’s cancer.
“They can’t do another surgery, they can’t do any more chemo and even radiation is done,” Bernadette said. “She will have a CAT scan done in November to make sure it has not metastasized because it is still local. In December, there will be an MRI of her head and lungs.”
Julianne is already making plans to participate in next year’s Ride to Conquer Cancer, This year’s 200-kilometre ride she did on a tandem bike with Joe was a memorable one.
“She did a really good job and it was just a tremendous experience,” Joe said. “We had more than 1,000 riders who approached us when we were riding and congratulated her and us for everything, thanked her and shared their stories with us.”
About the only change Julianne wants to make for the ride is to be more colour coordinated.
“We have pink outfits so we are trying to match them to a pink tandem bike,” she said.
In addition to primary high school sports sponsors Mick and Angelo’s (https://www.mickandangelos.com) and Johnny Rocco’s (http://www.johnnyroccos.com), BPSN’s coverage of the fall high school cross country season is made possible with the support of the Niagara Olympic Club (https://nocrunners.com).
