Once patients, now successful athletes
Hailey Danz was just 12 years old when she underwent treatment for osteosarcoma bone cancer in her left shin at Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin. The treatment took care of the cancer, but other complications arose. So at the age of 14, Hailey made the almost unbearable decision to have her leg amputated just above the knee.
More than a decade later, Danz will not be at the 2017 Briggs & Al’s Run & Walk for Children’s Hospital. She will be in the Netherlands for another international athletic competition.
In fact, Danz is a repeat podium finisher at national and international adaptive sports events, including the Paralympics, the International Triathlon Union and USA Paratriathlon National Championships.
And when she isn’t fulfilling public-speaking engagements, she decided - just for fun - to run her first marathon in Houston.
But even as she has checked off one goal after another, the Wauwatosa native has never let the memories of her time at Children’s from 2003-’05 leave her.
“I am forever indebted to Children’s Hospital,” Danz said. “I grew up five minutes away from one of the best hospitals in the country.
"They saved my life many times over and really set me up to be the strong and independent and tenacious person I am today. They’re a huge part of my journey. The nurses and staff who took care of me really became like my family.”
This is the 40th anniversary of Al’s Run, which is named after Al McGuire, the energetic and charismatic Marquette basketball coach.
When thousands sign up for the 8K run or the 5or 3-mile walk on Sept. 16, they are supporting the biggest fundraiser of the year for the Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin.
And in turn, it supports the Children’s Hospital patients who then go on to incredible athletic careers, like Danz.
Many others are at UW-Whitewater, which has the only collegiate wheelchair basketball program in the state.
Laura Vacek was diagnosed with Ewing's sarcoma, a bone cancer, in 2004 at age 7 in her right femur bone. After 16 rounds of chemotherapy and surgery to replace her femur bone with a titanium rod, she was initially able to play any sports.
“In 8th grade, I had to go in for another surgery,” Vacek said. “During the surgery, my doctor accidentally nicked my sciatic nerve, causing drop foot and nerve damage in my right lower leg/foot.
"I was not able to continue running or playing the sports I wanted to do.”
Another surgery fixed her drop foot, but Vacek still has nerve damage and numbness in her lower leg. She grew so close to some of the nurses, one of them ordered pizza and watched a TV series in Vacek’s hospital room.
“I never knew wheelchair basketball existed until I went to one of my cancer camps in high school,” Vacek said. “Wheelchair basketball has brought so much joy into my life.
"One of my favorite moments was this past summer helping out with the wheelchair basketball camp, just being able to help little kids improve in a short period of time and them looking up to you as a role model.”
Dani Ebben was born with spina bifida, had nine surgeries with her treatment at Children’s and then took up the sport of wheelchair basketball at age 11. She walked in to the summer camp at Whitewater and for the first time, saw kids who were playing adaptive sports.
“I didn’t know any kids with physical disabilities before that,” Ebben said. “That can be difficult where ever body else is able bodied. I’ve met some of my closest friends through basketball.
“They all go through the same things I do. We share stories. Travel. Sports teaches a lot of life lessons about being a good teammate and work ethic.”
After playing at Whitewater, Ebben will serve as an assistant coach at the school.
And some day she'll support Children's Hospital of Wisconsin by doing Al's Run.
“I have been impressed with Children's Hospital over the years; they were great at involving both myself and my parents in my medical care,” she said. “Even as a child they would give me their expert recommendations and then ask me what I thought about that plan.”
Drew Selz was treated for Ewing's sarcoma in his right leg at Children’s in 2005-‘06. His knee, femur and hip were replaced with a titanium implant.
As he begins his second year playing wheelchair basketball at Whitewater, his focus is on building another championship team.
“The UW-Whitewater men's wheelchair basketball team has won three of the previous four national titles in the NWBA Collegiate Division,” Selz said. “Each year we try to measure our team success on if we are a better team at the end of the season compared to the beginning, along with the team goal of winning the national championship.”
Last year, those who participated in the Al’s Run raised just over $1 million and Evan Solochek, communication specialist at Children's, said 100% of those funds raised go back directly to the hospital.
Participants can register in-person at any of the following Boston Store locations on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.: Bayshore, Mayfair and Southridge for about $35.
Danz remembers her reluctance at first to try running and biking with a prosthetic. But she had surrounded herself with such positive, encouraging people, it tapped in to her own curiosity.
“And if it weren’t for this little voice that says, ‘this is something you should try’- I never would have known,” Danz said.
“Doing a triathlon - or just getting out and running your first block - can always be intimidating.
“And I say, “Why not me? “Why not today? “What do I have to lose?”