Health: Local Girl Heading to LA For Stand Up To Cancer
By Stephanie Stahl
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Stand Up To Cancer is back in the spotlight. The show is returning to primetime this Friday on CBS to raise money and awareness for cancer research. Health Reporter Stephanie Stahl has been following one young cancer patient who's been part of the program from the beginning.
This is the third year for the star-studded telethon to fight cancer. One teenage patient from Delaware has been part of Stand Up To Cancer since it began, hoping to spare others like her.
Fifteen-year-old Pearce Quesenberry is playing field hockey now.
Four years ago, she was in excruciating pain while being treated at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia for a rare and aggressive brain tumor.
"I would lay on the floor of the hospital room, because it was colder on the tile, and I would just scream," said Pearce.
Back in 2008, Pearce was a featured patient in the first Stand Up To Cancer event. The telethon, simulcast on all four major networks, raises money for research to help patients like Pearce.
"I had cancer, and I feel like it's just so important that no kid has to go through what I went through," said Pearce. She had an experimental treatment that caused a variety of side effects like stunted growth.
Research funded by Stand Up To Cancer is now finding new and better treatments for a variety of hard to treat cancers.
"They're having all their dream team scientists coming together, finding new drugs to really target these cancers right at the cancer, not just the whole body," said Pearce.
Pearce has become friendly with the actress Abigail Breslin, who was part of the first Stand Up To Cancer telethon.
This year, Taylor Swift and Gwyneth Paltrow are among the celebrities appearing on the show. And Pearce is going to LA again this year.
She has several outfits for the trip, donated by celebrity stylist Wayne Scot Lukas
"I'm really glad to be part of the whole movement of Stand Up To Cancer and all the other celebrities that are part of it. It's exciting," said Pearce.
Pearce won't be considered officially cured until she reaches five years without a recurrence.
In addition to being involved with Stand Up To Cancer, she has a foundation and is selling socks with gold ribbons to mark Childhood Cancer Awareness Month.
For more info on the Pearce Q Foundation, visit: www.pearceqfoundation.org
For more info on Stand Up To Cancer, visit: www.standup2cancer.org
