The call came to my cell phone on a Friday afternoon a few weeks ago. It took me a few minutes to process that Sharon from the Teddy Atlas Foundation was telling me Meghan had been selected to receive the Dr. Theodore A. Atlas Humanitarian Award. The award is named for a local physician who epitomized the concept of what it meant to be a physician through more than a half century of people centered care on Staten Island.

I knew of Dr. Atlas, who did most of his work before my time, because I followed the work of the foundation, started by his son, Teddy Atlas Jr. The Dr. Theodore A. Atlas Foundation is a name known to locals who are inspired by stories of people helping people. I had watched this foundation through the years, grateful that people who genuinely want to help are not afraid to just do it.

I know I stumbled, and may have sounded like a bumbling fool as I asked her to repeat herself. “Yes,” Meghan will accept gratefully, I replied without asking. I was given the date and time for the dinner.

I’m not sure either of us really grasped the enormity of the honor until we looked up the event on line.

Teddy Dinner celebrity line-up

We had just struggled to get 100 people in a room for a fundraiser. Here they were looking at close to a thousand – from big names to community favorites.

When she learned she’d need to give a brief acceptance speech, she took a deep breath, and then thought. A whole lot.

We talked about humanitarian, as a word and as a concept. The more we bounced it around, the more we both knew the concept suited her. Meghan has always wanted to make a difference. She has always done what she can to speak for those who can not speak for themselves. She is not sure what her future career will be, but she is sure that she must know she is ‘helping.’

We talked about quotes. I gave a few suggestions. She came back to me with Dr. Seuss. She nailed it. As usual.

The Lorax speaks for the trees. They can not speak for themselves, so the Lorax advocates for them. It resonated with her.

Here is Meghan’s speech:

Good evening, I am extremely humbled and grateful to be standing before you tonight.

When I was 7 I never thought my life would turn out this way. I never thought I’d be accepting a prestigious humanitarian award. When I was 8 and my life was turned upside down by a diagnosis I didn’t understand, I was in shock. By the time I was nine, I realized that no one even knew what my disease was. Then I realized that if I didn’t do something, there was a chance no one else ever would.

Cowden’s Syndrome is a mutation on the PTEN Gene, a tumor suppressor gene. Because of this disorder I have extremely high cancer risks, and grow a lot of tumors. I am in the hospital being poked and prodded on a regular basis. I am constantly scanned and monitored. Every time I step into a doctor’s office I am holding my breath, praying that I will get even just two more months of peace, without a procedure. I am 15, and I have had 18 surgeries. This disease has tried to break me over, and over again. And, because of this, with each passing day I become more determined to overcome these challenges, win my daily battles, and lend a helping hand to others in need.

I am living the life of a rare disease patient. I am closely acquainted with the downfalls and struggles of my disease, and others. Because of this, I am fully cognizant that there is very little awareness about rare genetic disorders. Some of these disorders are fatal, and others can just make your daily life torturous.

My disorder specifically is sometimes classified as an “invisible illness.’ No one sees my scars and my struggles because I don’t ‘look sick.’ I present as a healthy and intelligent teenager. When I was little I used to wish all my scars were able to be seen, and that they were all over my skin. I thought that maybe people would start understanding what patients like me go through a bit more if they saw some of the ramifications of these diseases.

Cowden’s Syndrome has not just impacted my body. There are undeniable, severe mental ramifications that have come with my struggles. I have a depressive disorder, an anxiety disorder, and PTSD secondary to medical trauma. In no way am I even close to normal. I have to fight ten times harder for what someone else can do physically. I struggle mentally to live a normal live and get past the anxieties that control my daily life.

I have been bullied since elementary school there are some days where I come home, curl up in a ball and cry. It’s really hard to make friends when you’re at the doctor so much, and it’s even harder to deal with teenage drama when you’ve had to act so much older then you are your whole life. Whether it’s been because I’m different and they don’t understand, or because I catch on to things quickly, I always find myself that kid with the target on my back for bullies.

People like to say to ‘not let your hardships define you.’ Personally, I think that’s idealistic and impossible. The events that you have gone through in your life have created who you are. Sometimes I wonder what life would be like if I did not have this rare disease. Then I shake myself out of it, and realize that I’m a pretty cool person who has the ability to change lives. And, that if I didn’t have Cowden’s Syndrome, I wouldn’t be growing into the person I am.

My mother and I host annual fundraisers called “Jeans for Rare Genes.” They started out with all of the profits being donated to the Global Genes Foundation, a 401C3 organization that raises money around the world for the purpose of providing support to patients with rare diseases. Then, the PTEN Foundation, an organization specifically devoted to patients with PTEN Hamartoma Tumor Syndrome (Cowden’s Syndrome) was born. Once this organization was created, we began fundraising for them. To this day, our annual fundraiser is one of the biggest donations that goes into this organization and I am proud to know that our work is making a difference.

There are less than 2,000 diagnosed Cowden’s Syndrome patients in the US. Sometimes it is hard to see the light at the end of a lonely tunnel. The PTEN Foundation is close to putting up a patient powered registry that will start things moving in the right direction. We have a long way to go. We need funding for research, and then we need medication and hopefully a cure. There is far too little awareness about Cowden’s syndrome and all rare diseases in general. They are very real, and very present in our society.

This honor will serve as a stepping stone for me. My awareness efforts are not nearly done. In fact, I view this as a new chapter in my life, where I will have the confidence and courage, needed to continue raising funds and awareness, and that I may hopefully be a part of changing the lives of other rare disease patients.

In the words of the Lorax in the famous Dr. Seuss book, “Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s not.”

With the number of people who care in this room tonight, I look forward to a future of hope and promise. Thank you.

The speech ended with Teddy Atlas committing $5,000 to the PTEN Foundation on Meghan’s behalf.

It made me extra glad that Kristin, the PTEN Foundation President, who has become a dear friend, had made her way to New York from Alabama to celebrate with us.

Yesterday, November 15, 2018, NYC was almost totally crippled by an unexpected snow storm. In all of my years here I have never ever seen anything like it. I have seen worse storms, but NEVER the crippling state of things I saw yesterday. I left work to get Meghan at school at 2:20. On a busy day it takes me 22 minutes to arrive at her school for pick up. At 4:10, after crawling for HOURS and getting so close, I was being pushed up a hill out of a pile of snow. I was in such a state, feeling frantic that I was literally not able to get to her. And even though I knew she was safe, it was a helpless feeling I’m not looking to duplicate any time soon.

At 4:15 she sat in my car while we turned around to head back. At 5:35 the 8 mile round trip was complete, but we weren’t out of trouble. Three hours on the road and I never saw a plow or a salt truck.

My parents agreed to drive in their very capable pick up truck. My husband made it safely off the bus from Manhattan. It was far from the poised and put together departure I had hoped for, but we got there.

I’m not going to lie, there were a few moments there where I thought, “WHAT THE HECK? Why does EVERYTHING have to be surrounded by drama?”

But I pulled myself together. There are far bigger problems in the world. We made it. We were safe. We were together. Meghan’s dear friend greeted us there. I looked around and soaked up the enormity of the honor my 15 year old was receiving.

I looked around the room full of energetic, generous spirits.

I looked in the booklet on the table and found this. Despite a few minor errors, the idea that this was published here. Now. For everyone. Well, it kind of blew me away.

I listened while Ciaran Sheehan sang, with chills down my spine. Having played leading roles in two of Meghan’s favorite Broadway shows, “Les Miserables,” and “Phantom of the Opera,” he was the one she wanted to meet. And she did.

My girl is not perfect. She struggles. We argue. She sometimes acts like a teenage girl and I have to remind myself she is one. She is intense. She is focused. She is determined. She is deeply principled.

She is learning to find balance. She is learning to laugh. She is learning to pause. To believe. She is letting herself be successful. She is working daily on becoming the best version of herself. She is my hero.