A story about the resilience of a Fairfax County teen, and the devotion shown to her by teachers and coaches in her high school is about to become part of the Congressional Record.
Maureen Marsh was diagnosed with osteosarcoma, a rare form of bone cancer, two years ago.
"I was pretty shocked," Marsh said. "I've never really broken a bone, I've never really been sick, so it was just shock."
Shocked because it was originally misdiagnosed by her doctors as growing pains and tendinitis. It was athletic trainers at Langley High School, where Marsh was a member of the volleyball team, who noticed a small bump on her knee and encouraged her to have it checked out.
"Volleyball helped save her life, " said mother Carol Phelan-Marsh of the cancer diagnosis. "If she weren't pushing herself, she just would have thought it was some little irritation."
Instead, she had surgery to replace her right knee joint, and remove five inches of her femur. She also had to endure eight months of chemotherapy treatment.
Marsh was told she would not play volleyball again, but she's back on the court, proving doctors wrong. She's also a straight A student. Her efforts are also being recognized by Virginia Congressman Jim Moran.
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"It's wonderful," said Moran during a visit to Langley High School Monday. "So much credit goes to the Langley High School folks who realized what was wrong and were able to detect the cancer in a timely fashion and deal with this."
Moran will enter Marsh's story into the Congressional Record for Feb. 14.
"It's really a testament to the Langley High School community," Moran told Marsh. "It's really a collective effort. Parents. Schools. Your peers. And especially you."
It's also an honor to the athletic training staff that helped detect the disease.
"I had no idea all this was happening," said Langley associate athletic trainer Kara Chiocchio. "It's amazing that he came and this is getting written into Congress and everything. It's amazing."
