Natalie is 7 years old and loves her dance classes, playing baseball with her younger brothers, reading, writing and dressing up like a princess!  She loves giving back to her community by hosting lemonade stands for Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation and collecting toys and art supplies for the oncology patients  at her local Children's Hospital. When she was a toddler, she was treated for cancer at that hospital, though now that she is getting older (and NED!) she doesn’t have many memories of treatment.
 
Natalie had always been a healthy child, and then at 21 months she started complaining and crying about stomachaches. Her doctor felt it was just from her having a hard time going to the bathroom, a normal toddler issue. After many trips to the doctor she fell off the bed one evening and hit her bottom on the floor.  Her parents noticed a large lump on her bottom and rushed her in. The doctors felt it was a hematoma from falling and her parents were just told to watch her. After a week Natalie’s mother knew something wasn't right. The lump seemed larger and there were veins throughout it. Natalie was rushed in for an emergency ultrasound, which showed there was a large mass in her pelvis measuring 5.5 cm.
 
Natalie was referred to the local Children's Hospital for an emergency MRI, and at a follow-up appointment, her parents were told she had a type of cancer called rhabdomyosarcoma, later determined to be embryonal rhabdomyosarcoma. They were shocked, devastated, scared and did not know what would come next. 
 
Natalie endured 42 weeks of chemotherapies, 5 surgeries and 17 radiation treatments. She was so little, and had just learned, not long before, how to walk and talk. As she continued through her treatment she got sick with many viruses, swine flu and shingles, lost her hair and so much weight that she was down to the same weight she had been at 12 months. 
 
Natalie has been off treatment since June 2009 and continues to get scans to make sure she remains NED.  She is still cancer-free 5 years post treatment, a huge accomplishment for sure with a rhabdomyosarcoma diagnosis!  Her parents’ dream for her is simple: that she will live a long, healthy, fulfilled life, be able to do what she loves and share her smile and spunk for life with others. They are proud of Natalie’s positive attitude and what a great role model she is to her two little brothers. They have gotten involved with ALSF and become part of the ALSF “family,” working to help find cures and new medicine to reduce late effects of treatment and help kids live the long lives they so deserve.
 
Hero Quote: Natalie loves to say "just smile!" when any of us have a bad day. She is right, just smiling makes you feel much better!
 
Information provided by Krista Berg, Natalie’s mother
August 2014