It started with knee pains, but after trips to different doctors, junior Jamie Voets learned that it was much more.
In April Criminal Justice Club President Jamie Voets was diagnosed with Stage 2 Osteosarcoma; a type of bone cancer generally found in teenagers undergoing a growth-spurt.
“I went to a couple of different doctors until one saw it in the X-ray,” Jamie said. “It requires metal bone replacements and amputations in bad cases. Thankfully they caught it in the early stages. If you don’t catch it in time, it spreads to your lungs.”
Since her diagnosis, the 16 year old has balanced her time between criminal justice, horses, school and treatment.
“The time commitment with criminal justice is kind of hard for me since I’m in and out of the hospital,” Jamie said. “I go to the hospital every other week, and for chemo I have to stay overnight. Other times I’ll just stay for a couple of hours and leave after my treatment.”
Because of the time she’s had to spend in the hospital, Jamie is enrolled in MISD’s online school.
“Keeping up with school has been kind of slow with the online classes,” Jamie said. “I have to take advantage of the days that I’m actually feeling well.”
The Criminal Justice Club meets Mondays and Wednesdays after school.
“I come up to the school before club meetings to help Ms. Vinson and to get organized,” Jamie said. “As president, I mainly just take care of people, make sure they’re doing what they’re supposed to and help out Ms. Vinson.”
After a surgery, Jamie can no longer compete in certain criminal justice events.
“I had to get a limb salvage surgery that replaced part of my femur, so ever since then I’ve been going to physical therapy and trying to get my leg back to how it used to be,” Jamie said. “I’m not able to do a lot of the running and moving around, so I can’t do any of the events that require a lot of movement.”
In addition to criminal justice, Jamie enjoys to ride horses.
“I’ve been jumping and riding horses since I was 7 or 8,” Jamie said. “After I was diagnosed, I could still ride at first, but I can’t after the surgery.”
Despite multiple setbacks, Jamie has managed.
“My family and a lot of my teachers and friends have been supportive,” Jamie said. “And the nurses at the hospital have always been there for me as well.”
Jamie has high hopes for the future.
“I want to go into law enforcement, and I also want to get back into riding my horse,” Jamie said. “I just want to leave all of this behind and go back to doing what I was doing before.”
Written by Kayla Crowley
Photo By Daniel Oleson
