Our Recipients
This annual event will be held in honor of local families experiencing the physical, emotional, and personal journey of cancer. This race, beginning at Lake Kohlmeier, will take runners and walkers through the beautiful trails and streets of Owatonna.
Sawyer Wobig
On January 30th, 2023, Sawyer was diagnosed with b-Cell Acute Lymphoblastic leukemia. She had her port placed and began treatment right away. After the first month of treatment, Sawyer was technically in remission! After 11 months, she completed frontline treatment and started long-term maintenance on January 4, 2024. Long-term maintenance consists of daily and weekly oral chemo therapies, in addition to monthly visits to Children’s in Minneapolis for exams, bloodwork and Intrathecal Chemotherapy. Sawyer has handled most of the therapies well, and continues to show her strength and courage on a daily basis. We are blessed with the best medical team at Children’s Hospital, a community filled with support, and family/friends that we could not be more thankful for.
Joe Nelson
In late 2019, I was diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis. Unfortunately, I experienced complications from some of the medication I was on for my Ulcerative Colitis and developed Avascular Necrosis which destroyed my right hip and left shoulder. In 2022, I started with a total hip replacement. Then 3 months later, I had a partial shoulder replacement. While I was recovering from my shoulder replacement, I noticed my lymph nodes that had started to swell on my neck and armpit on the opposite side of my shoulder surgery. A few weeks later, I was diagnosed with stage 3 Hodgkins Lymphoma and began chemotherapy. On my second round of chemo, I was hospitalized after many ER visits because my colon had stopped working. My journey has been long and challenging and am so very thankful for my family, specifically, my parents for their support and care.
Tracy Granquist
In late August, 2023, I found a "curious" spot on my lower right mandible (jaw). A biopsy came back positive for squamous cell carcinoma. In November of 2023, I had an aggressive surgery to have the cancer removed. The surgery entailed having the mandible removed and replaced with my left fibula bone and skin grafts. After a long recovery from the surgery, I underwent daily radiation treatments for 3 weeks. Within weeks of completing radiation treatment, I noticed some swelling in my neck. Scans were taken and revealed that a large tumor was growing near and into my windpipe. I was admitted into the hospital immediately and the tumor was surgically removed. A 2nd trach was inserted to allow me to breath and my windpipe to heal while I undergo further treatment. Several smaller tumors were also found in the neck area that will require an aggressive course of chemotherapy.
