HOUSTON – Sydney Marquis was 11 years old when she sent her father a heartbreaking message.
"Whenever my parents told me that I probably did have cancer, I had text(ed) my dad in the car and asked if I was going to die," Sydney, now 17, said.
Sydney thought she had only months to live, but she was one of the lucky ones because her sister was a rare match for a bone marrow transplant.
"Hearing that my sister was my match and everything like that gave me hope. That's pretty rare for your sibling to be a match so I was, like, 'This is a miracle. I'm going to make it through,'" Sydney said.
As happens with most childhood cancer survivors, however, the treatment that saved her also ravaged her body.
Now, Sydney's dad is a fundraiser for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. He understands that simply being alive is not enough: Survivors have a long way to go.
"I have a lot of symptoms from it now -- my kidneys, I have high blood pressure, my ovaries failed, my pituitary gland is not working perfectly. So I have to take a lot of new medicines for all of that stuff," Sydney said.
On Monday, KPRC introduced her to another fundraiser. KPRC meteorologist Eric Braate is aiming to raise one of the largest amounts yet while competing in the Ironman World Championship.
Sydney and Braate were strangers until now -- and probably don't know the majority of the viewers who are cheering them on -- but KPRC is confident that the desire to help people survive and thrive past a cancer diagnosis will bring us all together as we follow Eric to Kona.
"All of the money that they raise is the reason that the doctors and scientists found all this research to help kids like me and people like me survive this awful disease," Sydney said.
The Kona Ironman World Championship is 200 days away and on that same day, Sydney will turn 18.
You can help with KPRC meteorologist Eric Braate's Kona campaign here.