what's new

Molly was a 15 year old high school freshman when she was diagnosed with a rare sub-type (hypodiploidy) of ALL (acute lymphoblastic leukemia) in February of 2014. She started a 2 and ½ year course of chemotherapy. After 28 days, her cancer was in “remission” and she had a MRD (minimum residual disease) of ZERO. Researchers are finding that risk of relapse is generally proportional to the level of MRD. This was good news for Molly, but because she had hypodiploid ALL, we had to make an agonizing decision of whether she should undergo a bone marrow transplant (indicated with HALL) or continue aggressive chemotherapy only (because of her MRD=0). After consulting many sources, it was decided she would continue with chemo. 

So, Molly spent a lot of her high school career undergoing chemo, hospital stays and spinal taps. She did this while also trying to juggle school work and friends. Molly finished her treatment in June of 2016, the summer before her senior year. There were a lot of ups and downs along the way. She developed steroid induced AVN (avascular necrosis) in her hips and knees. She received several surgeries at CHOP to help correct the damage, but eventually had a right hip replacement in July of 2016. She went on to have her left hip replaced in May of 2019 and her right knee replaced in July 2021. We are hoping that she will now be free of any pain and her other knee will be spared.

Although it was a rough road, Molly was fortunate to have many positive things come her way in those 2 and ½ years as well. We all had a great vacation with extended family to Justin’s Beach House (a respite for cancer patients and their families- www.justinjennings.org ) in Bethany Beach, DE. She had a huge Sweet Sixteen party, a helicopter ride, Taylor Swift and One Direction concerts, a hot air balloon ride and even a trip to LA to see a taping of "Dancing with the Stars" ( www.dreamcometrue.org )! All of the fun times with family and friends got her through the bad days.

In October of 2014, Trinity Pharmacy employees (the pharmacy that Rusty was a part of) planned the 1st annual MollySTRONG golf tournament to support and honor Molly. It was a fantastic, successful event and turned out to be the beginning of the MollySTRONG Foundation! It was a great idea to come together in support of Molly and use it to do good things!! See below about our 8 MollySTRONG golf tournaments and what they have gone on to do!   

Click here for a video that Molly's sister, Maddy, made in June 2016 after Molly finished chemo.

Molly is living life to its fullest! Molly finished her chemo in June of 2016 and went on to enjoy her senior year at Emmaus High School and graduate with her class of 2017. She just graduated from the 6 year doctorate of Physical Therapy program at Lebanon Valley College and has started her career as a physical therapist at Phoenix Physical Therapy! We feel blessed that she has remained in remission and on June 4th, 2021 she was officially considered  "cured"!.

There are very exciting things happening in terms of leukemia treatment options! We hope to continue to  support the researchers at St. Jude's in their developments!  Click below to read more...