Stories of progress, inspiration, and information in overcoming osteosarcoma.
Scott Shockley was a popular kid in high school. He was homecoming king. He served as a student ambassador. He played varsity sports — baseball, basketball, and football — and was even a nationally ranked long-snapper. Yet it was how he treated people that really showed what he was like as a person.
Scott and his sister Stacy during a family visit to Spain. Stacy named her son “Graham Scott” in memory of her brother.
“Scott was the kind of kid who would befriend someone no one else wanted to sit with at lunch,” says Scott’s mom, Terriann Shockley, noting how Scott the first in his school to welcome a foreign exchange student from Italy. “He just had the biggest heart. He was always thinking about how other people were feeling.”
Even in his final days, Scott was more worried about his family than himself.
“We had a family friend who was a three-time cancer survivor come and talk to Scott, and Scott told him, ‘I just do not know if I can do this anymore,’” says Scott’s dad, Steve Shockley. “And the guy said, ‘Look, Scott, you do not have to. You can go anytime.’ And Scott goes, ‘But I am really worried about my mom and dad.’”
It was also Scott’s idea to start a foundation to raise money to help other kids with osteosarcoma. While this idea did not come to fruition during his lifetime, Scott’s parents established the Scott Shockley Foundation after his passing. In 2023, the foundation donated $25,000 to the Osteosarcoma Institute in support of immunotherapy research being done by Jason T. Yustein, MD, PhD.
“We wanted the money to stay focused on osteosarcoma research,” Terriann says. “When we found the OSI, we were just like, ‘Wow, this is it.’”
Scott’s osteosarcoma experience started at age 17. He was having knee pain that initially was misdiagnosed.
“Being an athlete, he had a lot of aches and pains,” Steve says. “They did X-rays, but nothing showed up. Doctors thought it was runner’s knee.” They gave him a knee brace and prescribed an anti-inflammatory, but the pain held on.
Baseball was Scott’s first and favorite sport and he was being recruited as a pitcher in college.
“[The doctor] came highly recommended and worked with pro sports teams,” Steve says. “He just did not have much experience with kids, and so osteosarcoma was not even on his radar.”
After four months of back and forth, Scott’s sports medicine doctor ordered an MRI. This time, the results were clear. Scott’s osteosarcoma was diagnosed in May 2011 during his junior year of high school.
Scott’s illness quickly consumed nearly all of Steve and Terriann’s time. Between doctor’s appointments, chemotherapy treatments, surgeries, hospitalizations, administrative tasks, and more, osteosarcoma became the couple’s full-time job.
“I stopped working for basically two years so I could take Scott to appointments, and Terriann did research so we knew how to advocate for him,” Steve says. “We were there with him for over 100 nights during his initial 10 months as all of his treatments were inpatient.”
Scott finished treatment in January 2012 and received clear scans that February and June. But then, right after beginning college at Auburn, the disease returned.
During the relapse, Steve and Terriann got Scott a dog.
“All he ever wanted was a dog,” Steve says. “We would go to the hospital, and all the doctors and nurses and everybody would be like, ‘Come on. Get the boy a dog.’ So we got Daisy, and he perked up right away. It was like night and day.”
Despite therapies prescribed by MD Anderson and surgeries to remove metastasis from his lungs, Scott passed in July 2013.
Steve and Terriann invited loved ones to share stories about Scott at his memorial service. They were touched by the outpouring of love for their son.
“One young lady, a classmate of Scott’s, talked about how they had made a pact that if neither of them was married by 30, they would marry each other,” Terriann says. “Then, the next girl got up and said, ‘Wait a minute, Scott was supposed to marry me!’ It was just so cute and sweet.”
To say Scott made an impression on the people in his life is an understatement. One of his favorite sayings was, “Remember the past, plan for the future, but live for today, because yesterday is gone and tomorrow may never come.”
“He said it all the time; he texted it to all his friends,” Steve says. “He even wanted to have it tattooed on his side, but his doctor said no. It was too big a risk for infection.”
Scott’s wish was granted post-mortem when the mother of a friend of his applied the saying to his body in henna ink. At least two of Scott’s other friends have made the saying, or some variation of it, permanent on their own bodies in the years since his passing. It is comforting to Terriann and Steve to know Scott left such a lasting impact on so many.
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