Playing Every Pitch: Bryce’s Story

A Suspected Baseball Injury

In 2021, Bryce was a junior in high school and thought he had a hip injury.

“We did not really think anything of it at first,” says his mother, Jenni Bazor. “There were four other kids on the high school baseball team with a hip injury of some sort.”

But the pain kept getting worse. When they went to see a doctor, Jenni noticed a lump and Bryce was sent  for imaging tests. That lump turned out to be a tumor caused by chondroblastic osteosarcoma.

Because it was located in his hip bone, surgery was not an option. After six weeks of chemotherapy, Bryce was not seeing any progress, and the cancer had metastasized to his lungs.

“We were really trying to control what was going on in his lungs,” Jenni says. Bryce kept getting collapsed lungs, though he did not have any breathing problems. They also had to watch for other signs, like back pain.

Just three months after Bryce was diagnosed, his prognosis became bleak. Doctors told him he had three months to live. He had to decide whether to continue with chemo and keep the cancer at bay as much as possible or stop treatment altogether.

He wanted to fight. And with that determination, he survived nine months longer than expected.

Embracing Every Day

The family focused on making the most of the time they had left. They spent Thanksgiving together at Disneyland and Universal Studios. Thanks to Make-A-Wish, Bryce and his family also visited Hawaii, where they spent time fishing, swimming, snorkeling, boogieboarding, and ziplining.

“Bryce liked the thrills, but he was not sure if he was going to be able to handle everything,” Jim says. “He found a way to do it.”

Some of Bryce’s friends even joined them in Hawaii.

“His friends have been super supportive,” Jenni says. “I do not even know how he was out there on a surfboard, but they were all out there doing surfing lessons with him. Everything he wanted to do, they were all in. And they have become big brothers to our daughter, Peyton.”

Graduating During a Cross-Country Clinical Trial

During his senior year of high school, Bryce enrolled in a clinical trial in Boston, where researchers were testing new drug combinations for resistant osteosarcoma.

His parents worked out the logistics so one of them could be in Boston with him for four weeks while the other could stay in California with Peyton. After that, Bryce could return home and continue his treatment.

From his hospital bed, Bryce finished the last two classes he needed to graduate from high school. He was determined not to miss the ceremony, even if he was thousands of miles away. His friends FaceTimed him so he could be part of it from Massachusetts.

While in Boston, Bryce was able to embrace his love of baseball. He watched a Red Sox game, toured Fenway Park, and met some major league players.

But during Bryce’s fourth week of treatment, both of his lungs collapsed.

“We spent the next three weeks in Boston Children’s having surgery and trying to get his lungs back so that we could get home,” Jenni says.

They arrived home the day before Father’s Day in 2022. In early July, the San Francisco Giants gave Bryce the same major league baseball experience he had with the Red Sox.

“He got to meet a whole bunch of players, including Logan Webb, their star pitcher, who is from our area, so he is a hometown hero,” Jenni says.

Struggling to Breathe

Radiation helped slow the cancer in Bryce’s hip, but nothing was working for his lungs. The clinical trial treatment bought him time, but he was not improving.

After he turned 18 in September 2022, his lungs got worse. He needed oxygen at home, and over time, even that was not enough.

By October, he was in the intensive care unit on a breathing machine. His parents knew it was time to let him go. He passed on October 12.

“He made it nine months longer than he should have. He fought for a really long time. He never let his spirit be defeated,” Jenni says.

Creating a Legacy

It was Bryce’s wish that other kids would not have to face osteosarcoma, so his family started the Bryce Bazor Foundation, focused on awareness, research, and funding. The foundation contributes to The Osteosarcoma Institute due to the two organizations’ shared goals.

“So many people gave to us in our time of need, and we want to be able to give back to other people who need it,” Jenni says.

The foundation gives them a way to remember Bryce, and it provides an outlet for the grief they struggle with every day.

“Giving to other families fills a big hole in my heart,” Jim says.