A special senior day for Otterbein softball player as her mother, an Otterbein professor, fights rare form of cancer
WESTERVILLE, Ohio (WCMH) — Otterbein University softball senior day was always going to be special for Megan Payne and her parents Shelley and Bryan.
Megan, in a way, grew up at the school. Her mother Shelley started working at Otterbein a couple decades ago, as a physical therapist and athletic trainer. Now she is a professor and created one of the most popular majors on campus.
Megan will soon graduate with that major, allied health, and will also start working on her doctorate at Ohio State University. Megan also just wrapped up her college softball career with more than 120 starts.
With this extensive background tied to Otterbein and the softball team, the final game was naturally going to be emotional but it unexpectedly became even more powerful.
In early November, Shelley found out she had adrenal cancer. It is extremely rare, only 200 people out of the 8 billion on the planet are diagnosed annually with this type of cancer.
According to the Mayo Clinic, it begins in one or both of the small, triangular glands (adrenal glands) located on top of the kidneys. The clinic said the adrenal glands produce hormones that give instructions to virtually every organ and tissue in your body.
Meyer had surgery to remove the tumor the day before Thanksgiving and because it is a highly recurring form of cancer, she also underwent radiation and is currently going through chemotherapy.
As a family, the Meyers are fighting together and Shelley still made it to one softball game after another in this special senior season, including the last one, where she was on the field with her daughter and husband.
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