BEAVERTON, Ore. — A Beaverton mom took a long walk this weekend for her daughter with cancer.
Vicki Traller started a 24-hour walk around the track at Sunset High School at 3 p.m. Saturday, KVAL-TV reported.
“I just know that I have to do something and I just can’t sit at home and watch my daughter suffer and not get any chances,” Traller said.
She walked to support 15-year-old Nathalie, who has been diagnosed with a rare cancer, stage 4 Alveolar Soft Part Sarcoma. The family is fighting to get access to an experimental treatment.
Merck and Bristol Myers say Nathalie is too young for the medication. Nathalie’s mother hopes her walk will raise awareness about her situation.
“I feel like everybody has the right to pursue the chance to live, to get the medicine that they need,” she said. “We’ve been handed so many short straws and I know there’s others like us.”
Traller wants the maker of the drug to agree to a compassionate use or an age exception for existing trials or the medication.
“If we can get this drug approved or available for more people, I’m wondering how many other people could really benefit from this and I want to be a part of that,” she said.
