Even with Chondrosarcoma nothing keeps Jamie down

This Thursday is Chondrosarcoma Awareness Day, hosted annually on February 6. It will mark Shayna Kramer’s heavenly 34th birthday. This is our fifth annual public awareness campaign, an international effort to educate the public about this ultra-rare bone cancer and build a coalition to support more research and clinical trials. We invite all to Join the Fight. The more attention we create, the more support we generate.

Here is all we ask:

We ask that you join us by wearing something Yellow on February 6. It can be a ribbon, pin, or wrist band. We also encourage you to post pictures wearing Yellow on our social media platforms using the hashtag: #chondrosarcoma #chondrosarcomafoundation #cswecare

We also ask that you reach out and educate your family, friends and co-workers about chondrosarcoma,and share our information including stories of survivors and those losing their battle to this beast. Help us raise awareness and encourage everyone to Join the Fight. Ask your family, friends and colleagues to go to our website and add their name and email address to our petition so that we can build a strong global coalition.

www.csfshayna.org/support-cs-research

In addition to bringing awareness, in the weeks leading up to Chondrosarcoma Awareness Day: February 6, we have shared inspirational stories of CS Warriors.They show how strong and resilient we are in the face of adversity. Each week from now to February 6, we have shared a story about a member of our community who either lost their battle with Chondrosarcoma to honor their legacy, or those who are surviving and leading productive lives with the help of surgery, radiation, orphan medications, clinical trials and new technologies.

Our first tribute was the story of Ryan Ladd, a survivor who was given the opportunity to tap into new innovative technology to reduce his severe leg pain and lead a normal life using a 3-D printer. Our second tribute featured Nicole Stickel, diagnosed with Extraskeletal Myxoid Chondrosarcoma. Nicole is currently on active duty in the Air Force and works as a radiology technician. We also shared the tragic story of Joseph Kalil, who lost his battle to Mesenchymal Chondrosarcoma last June at the young age of 23. Our fourth story was Rachel Moss who lost her battle to conventional chondrosarcoma this past August at the young age of 44. We also honored Roger Petersen, a devoted family man, a jeweler who also had a passion for comics and combined his vocation and avocation. He was honored on the cover of the his local magazine as a “Shining” example. Roger passed away in June 2023 from Dedifferentiated Chondrosarcoma. Last week we honored Ken Pilarski, affectionately called “The Concrete Man.” He was strong, hard working down to earth, loved the outdoors, caring and generous. Ken lost his battle with Conventional Chondrosarcoma this past November about 3 months ago.

This is our final tribute before Chondrosarcoma Awareness Day and this story is very inspirational for all of us. Jamie Elliott has had an incredible life from being a stewardess, to a Hollywood stunt woman working in blockbuster movies. Jamie has had an action-packed, adventurous life and nothing seems to get her down. Even with Chondrosarcoma and ending up in a wheel chair Jamie discover pickleball and she is not only good at it; she is a champion as well as an ambassador to other wheelchair bound athletes. Her philosophy is to keep moving and not let anything keep you down.

Jamie’s inspirational journey as well as the other tributes we have shared are the best way to kick-off Chondrosarcoma Awareness Day. Please take a few minutes to read about Jamie’s incredible journey and please share her story with others.