Stories of progress, inspiration, and information in overcoming osteosarcoma.
At 15, Tessa Sutton was an active, athletic high school freshman whose passion was soccer. She had played the sport since she was 4, honing her skills and traveling with a successful club team for years. When she made varsity on her high school soccer team, she was thrilled.
Tessa had been experiencing pain on her right side for a couple months, but no one thought it was anything more than a bruised rib or muscle strain. After all, soccer is a physical sport, and she had practices or games nearly every day.
But the pain persisted. A routine visit to urgent care took a serious turn when the chest X-ray showed a mass in her right chest wall. Looking at the X-ray image, Tessa and her family’s worst fears were realized — it was osteosarcoma, a rare bone cancer that most commonly occurs in children, teenagers and young adults.
What followed was a whirlwind of activity beginning with an immediate trip to the OSF Children’s Hospital 10 miles away from home. Tessa was admitted, and CT and PET scans were ordered to be done as soon as possible. Specialists confirmed that she was facing osteosarcoma.
“We didn’t have much time to process everything,” Michelle says, remembering the parade of oncologists, surgeons, and other providers coming in and out of Tessa’s room. Surgery was scheduled for the next day to take a biopsy of the area.
Due to the location in her chest wall, the biopsy surgery was challenging, and Tessa remained hospitalized for six days. A chest tube had to remain in place for several days until her lung was properly reinflated. Another grueling week passed before the pathology results revealed her cancer diagnosis. The tumor was extra-skeletal osteosarcoma. “It truly felt like a nightmare,” says Michelle.
Tessa’s osteosarcoma was rare in that her tumor was not located on a bone — which is the case for many osteosarcoma patients. Rather, it was in the space between her lung and chest wall. For several months, Tessa was on chemotherapy to shrink the tumor. Then came major lung surgery with the removal of part of her lung and diaphragm. More chemo and 36 radiation treatments followed, with all the unpleasant side effects. But the hardest part was being away from school, friends and her beloved sport.
“All we could do was take one day at a time and cross each bridge as we came to it,” says Michelle. In between treatments, when Tessa’s strength permitted, she rejoined her Dunlap, Illinois, teammates on the soccer field. She also tremendously enjoyed working at Brown Animal Hospital and spending time with her two-year-old nephew, Carter, who was like the younger sibling Tessa never had.
In January 2023, a year and a half after her initial osteosarcoma diagnosis, Tessa was diagnosed with leukemia caused by one of her chemo medications. “It became apparent that a cure was not to be,” Michelle says. Thanks to Make-A-Wish Illinois and the generosity of her community Tessa and her family made a week-long trip to Florida the following month. Then on March 24, 2023, she passed away peacefully, surrounded by her family.
During those final months, Tessa told her parents she wanted to “pay forward” the support she had received from her physicians at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, her school classmates, and her wider community.
“Tessa wanted to give money directly to families facing catastrophic illness,” Michelle explains. She also wanted her local hospital to have a “Sunshine Cart” making the rounds with toys, crafts, phone chargers, and toiletries — just like the St. Jude in Memphis where she had received treatment.
A few months before she passed, Tessa and her family created the Tessa Sutton Foundation to carry on Tessa’s legacy. In the two years since its founding, the foundation has given nearly $100,000 in direct support to families dealing with the financial burdens that accompany catastrophic illness.
Her foundation has also given $20,000 to St. Jude and $10,000 to OSF Children’s Hospital of Illinois, both facilities where she was treated. And just as Tessa envisioned, the foundation funds and maintains a Sunshine Cart that bears her name.
Tessa’s parents and siblings honor her memory in every way they can. “We talk about her constantly especially to her nephew Carter, so he will remember her and know how much she loved him. We listen to her favorite music, eat her favorite food, and look at pictures and videos.”
Since soccer was Tessa’s favorite sport, her foundation holds a 3v3 soccer tournament each summer to raise funds and awareness for pediatric cancer. Follow the Team Tessa – #StrongerTogether Facebook page for more updates from Tessa’s community.
“Our hearts ache every day,” Michelle says. She offers this advice to families who have also lost family members to disease: “When you feel guilt or despair, know that your loved one knew how much they were loved and keep their memory and spirit alive by doing things that would make them happy and proud.”
“We will never understand why her life was cut so short, but we are eternally grateful that she was here and a part of our lives.”
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