{"id":5320,"date":"2024-05-22T10:11:45","date_gmt":"2024-05-22T14:11:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.teamimpact.org\/?p=5320"},"modified":"2024-05-25T06:57:37","modified_gmt":"2024-05-25T10:57:37","slug":"the-lee-family-tufts-field-hockey-making-everything-even-cancer-a-bit-more-fun","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.teamimpact.org\/about\/blog\/the-lee-family-tufts-field-hockey-making-everything-even-cancer-a-bit-more-fun\/","title":{"rendered":"The Lee Family & Tufts Field Hockey: Making Everything, Even Cancer, A Bit More Fun"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\u201cYou know, cancer is actually really fun if you don\u2019t have to take all the medicine.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When eight-year-old Mia Lee said these words to her mom, Nar, earlier this year, it caught Nar off guard. These are words you don\u2019t expect to hear from anyone, let alone a child who was two-and-a-half years into their own cancer journey at the time. But when Mia said these words, Nar knew exactly what she meant: Cancer gave Mia a team that made the bad parts of the disease feel a little bit better. \u201cShe\u2019s not able to differentiate between the two, all she knows is she has all these amazing memories and opportunities that overshadowed the bad memories,<\/strong>\u201d Nar said, \u201cso now when she thinks of her cancer journey, she thinks of her team.<\/strong> She thinks having cancer is kind of fun except for the medicine and hospital part. It\u2019s amazing that she is able to walk away from two plus years of complete torture with such a positive mindset.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mia was only four years old when Nar got a call from her preschool saying something about Mia seemed off. They asked if there had been any changes at home, any deaths in the family, anything that could explain this sudden change in behavior. But nothing had changed, so Nar took Mia to the doctor. A pediatric fellow decided to do a finger prick, something that is not standard protocol, and when the pediatrician came into the room and encouraged Nar to take Mia to the ER at Boston Children\u2019s, Nar knew something was very wrong. Mia was immediately admitted, and tests revealed low hemoglobin, low platelets, and blood that was nearly 70% leukemia cells. Mia had cancer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Hannah, Mia, and their teammate on campus<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Mia and her teammates support the Jumbos<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Mia attends practice with her teammates<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Lees jumped into action and immediately began Mia\u2019s treatment journey at the Boston Children’s Hospital and Dana Farber’s Jimmy Fund Clinic. In addition to being lengthy, Mia\u2019s treatment was also difficult. She was allergic to one of the chemotherapy drugs, so instead of receiving the drug once every three weeks like a typical treatment, Mia received intramuscular injections three times a week, totaling 90 shots during her 30-week treatment period. After each injection, she had to be monitored for an hour to make sure there were no adverse side affects. Mia\u2019s treatments left her feeling uncomfortable, painful, and “just generally crappy,” Nar recalled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was during one of Mia\u2019s treatments that Nar found a flyer for Team IMPACT in the Jimmy Fund Clinic waiting room. Mia had just turned five and was asking to play sports like her older siblings, Hannah and Aiden. Knowing she wasn\u2019t able at this point in her journey, Nar was looking for other ways for her daughter to be involved, and Team IMPACT seemed like the perfect solution. \u201cI thought, this is something she can do,\u201d Nar recalled. \u201cI was worried, like, what can we actually<\/em> do because she was so sick, but I signed up because I thought, what\u2019s the worst that can happen? I\u2019m glad I took that route and didn\u2019t wait.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Mia, Jumbo, and Hannah at the 2023 Game Day Gala<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Hannah, Mia, and Coach Mattera at the 2023 Game Day Gala<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In December of 2021, Mia was matched with the Tufts University field hockey team. In the midst of her treatment, even on her worst days, the Jumbos were there in exactly the way Mia and her family needed them to be. Earlier this year, Nar was talking to a family who was unsure if Team IMPACT was a good fit for them because their child was limited during treatment. \u201cIt was exactly the same thing for us at the beginning,\u201d Nar said. \u201cWe only saw the team a handful of times the first year because between their schedule and how Mia was feeling we just really couldn\u2019t be in person. But they\u2019d send videos, they\u2019d send pictures, we\u2019d send pictures, and it really becomes how available your child is. The team is here for you, here as an outlet, here as a resource whenever your child is available and comfortable, and you kind of go at your own pace.<\/strong> That\u2019s exactly what happened to us. The first year, she was still frontline not feeling good, and the second she started feeling good we started going to more things.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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