Devon Higham had always been active. From the time he could walk there was hardly a day where he did not find himself in the pool or on the soccer field or tennis court. Competitive almost to a fault, he could never placate his insatiable desire to win whether he was playing sports or board games, and whether playing against his friends or his grandparents. This life in motion came to screeching halt, however, when Higham was diagnosed with lung cancer at the age of 16.

Though identifying his illness took only a month, it felt like a lifetime. Higham describes that time to Monthly Measure.

Soon after I began my junior of high school I began losing my appetite. While odd considering the number of calories I would regularly burn, we didn’t think much of it at first and thought that it might be an innocuous stomach bug. However, I soon began losing a considerable amount of weight and my condition worsened significantly. I lost energy to the point of being unable to go to school and eventually reached the point where I would vomit if I even tried to keep down a glass of water. A myriad of doctor visits turned into x-rays, which turned into CAT scans, which turned into a biopsy. Just before Halloween in 2011 a choriocarcinoma germ cell tumor was discovered in my lungs.

“Months of chemotherapy, hospital visits, and surgeries ensued. While the chemo robbed me of my strength and hair, throughout the treatment process I never again returned to the nadir of the pre-diagnosis days. Once we knew what we were dealing with and how to attack it, the unpredictable bouts of nausea and exhaustion from chemo were never again as overwhelming as they had been at the onset. Unable to withstand much physical activity, I read more books and watched more movies over a 6-month span than I ever had before.

“Soon after the new year, my parents and I met with my surgeon for our first consultation. After months of treatment it was finally time to cut the tumor out. He suggested we have two surgeries: one for the primary tumor and nodules in my right lung and then another later on to remove the nodules in my left lung. Naturally, we had many questions about the procedure, including the long-term effects, recovery time, and so forth.

“In asking him what sort of lung capacity I’d have going forward, he said that while I wouldn’t have too many long-term impacts, I’d never be where I had been before I’d become sick and that I likely ‘won’t be running marathons.’ I’d always been pretty athletic and had always assumed that I’d try a marathon when I got older, so being the prickly teenager that I was, I, to quote the great Michael Jordan, ‘took that personally.’

“I am running the New York City Marathon this year as a member of the GO2 for Lung Cancer’s endurance team. Fall 2021 marks the tenth anniversary of my initial diagnosis and I’m incredibly lucky to have largely been able to resume my normal life in the years that have passed since my illness. I do not have many lingering effects from my illness aside from a few larger-than-normal scars on my torso.

“Many who go through something like this are not as lucky, and to some extent I feel like I owe it to them to put my good fortune to use.

“Though I am only a month into training, I have already been so surprised by the sense of community around the New York City Marathon. So many people have reached out to me with words of encouragement, have contributed to my fundraising, or have asked if they could come on runs with me. Running can be quite solitary, particularly when you wake up early before work to do it, and having as many people as possible join in this journey has made it incredibly rewarding and motivating as I approach the coming months until race day.”

The 2021 TCS New York City Marathon Expo Presented by New Balance will take place on Sunday, November 7, 2021. You can learn more about our involvement with the 2021 TCS New York City Marathon and Devon’s story. Learn more and join Devon and our GO2 for Lung Cancer team at the 2021 TCS New York City Marathon.