{"id":417907,"date":"2026-10-03T18:30:40","date_gmt":"2026-10-03T18:30:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/417907\/"},"modified":"2026-10-03T18:30:40","modified_gmt":"2026-10-03T18:30:40","slug":"tampa-bay-families-race-to-raise-awareness-funds-in-fight-against-rare-cancer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/417907\/","title":{"rendered":"Tampa Bay families race to raise awareness, funds in fight against rare cancer"},"content":{"rendered":"

TAMPA, Fla \u2014 Families, survivors and supporters gathered in downtown Tampa Saturday for the annual Race to Cure Sarcoma, an event aimed at raising awareness and money to fight a rare form of cancer.<\/p>\n

For Tampa Bay 28 meteorologist Jason Adams, the mission is personal.<\/p>\n

Jason\u2019s brother-in-law, Matt, was diagnosed with sarcoma last year. He was diagnosed in March and died just five months later, in August.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we did get the diagnosis, we were completely in shock,\u201d Jason\u2019s sister, Jeanette Aley, said. \u201cAnd then to only have five months to work through everything and just even catch our breath and understand what was going on was really tragic.\u201d<\/p>\n

More than a year later, Jason and Jeanette continue to share Matt\u2019s story, hoping it can bring greater attention to the disease and help other families facing the same fight.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter the initial shock of losing my brother-in-law, it was anger. I was angry,\u201d Jason said. \u201cThere were no options for him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Matt\u2019s story was one of many represented at Saturday\u2019s race.<\/p>\n

Sarcoma survivors Matt Strong and Ethan Highsmith were also there. Highsmith, 17, was diagnosed when he was 13.<\/p>\n

\u201cI always think God kept me here for a reason,\u201d Highsmith said. \u201cI\u2019d imagine it\u2019s something like this charity work.\u201d<\/p>\n

Strong, 24, continues to battle sarcoma after first being diagnosed nearly five years ago. His nurse, Jenn Tromer, said his resilience has inspired the people caring for him as he has faced multiple relapses.<\/p>\n

Among the youngest people attending was 6-year-old Sloane Campisi, who came for one simple reason: to support her dad.<\/p>\n

The families at Saturday\u2019s race hope sharing their stories will help more people learn about sarcoma while raising money for cancer research and giving future patients more options.<\/p>\n

For more information and how to donate, head to https:\/\/curesarcoma.org\/<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Bradenton community responds after 20-year-old volleyball star dies from disease that affects 2 in a million<\/p>\n

The 20-year-old IMG Academy volleyball star and Under Armour All-American died Sept. 16 after a three-month battle with the rare blood disorder \u2014 even though doctors had found her a 100% bone marrow match, her mother, Tanya Mack tells Tampa Bay 28 reporter Haley Zarcone.<\/p>\n

20-year-old volleyball star dies from disease that affects 2 in a million<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TAMPA, Fla \u2014 Families, survivors and supporters gathered in downtown Tampa Saturday for the annual Race to Cure…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":417908,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[276,165404,165405,165406,135,5910,108336,3670,137,136,208],"class_list":["post-417907","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa","tag-hillsborough-county","tag-race-to-cure-sarcoma","tag-sarcoma","tag-sarcoma-research","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-bay-28","tag-tampa-bay-28-news","tag-tampa-bay-local-news","tag-tampa-headlines","tag-tampa-news","tag-wfts"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/417907","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=417907"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/417907\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/417908"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=417907"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=417907"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=417907"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}