Today’s episode features Ella Steubing, a junior at Texas Tech University and Tri Delta sister from Phi Eta Chapter. Diagnosed with Ewing sarcoma at just 13 years old, Ella shares her powerful story of strength and advocacy. Listen as she discusses her journey through cancer, her commitment to supporting other families facing cancer and the incredible fundraising work of her Texas Tech chapter.
Imagine being 13, starting eighth grade and working toward making the volleyball team, when a sudden loss of coordination and numbness in your legs leads to a life-changing cancer diagnosis—a tumor growing around your spine. In this touching podcast episode, Ella shares her journey from diagnosis to surgery and chemo, as well as the challenges of losing a sense of normalcy.
Hear Ella’s Tri Delta story, the exceptional fundraising efforts by Phi Eta Chapter for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and her own advocacy to support other families facing cancer. Ella shares what she’s up to now as she faces yet another test of her strength and character—embodying what it means to be a true Tri Delta—brave, bold, and kind.
This transcript was created using automated technologies and may contain errors.
Welcome to today's episode of our Let's Talk Tri Delta podcast. I'm your host, Lexi
Leggs, and I serve Tri Delta as the Program Development Specialist. Over the past 25
years, through our partnership with St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, we have had
the privilege of hearing so many inspiring stories of strength, resilience, and hope
from incredible survivors. Today, we are honored to introduce to you one more, Texas
Tech Junior and Tri Delta Sister from our Phi Eta Chapter, Ella Steubing. At just 13
years old, Ella was diagnosed with Ewing Sarcoma, a battle that has shaped her into
the remarkable person that she is today. I am truly excited and honored to have
Ella here with us to share more about her journey. So - Welcome to the podcast,
Ella. - Thank you for having me. - Absolutely, how are you doing today? - I'm doing
good. - Awesome, good, good. Where are you zooming in from today? - Home, so Dallas,
Texas. - Okay, so not too far from me, so you're enjoying this rain right now too.
- Yeah. - Of course, that is amazing. Absolutely, well, great. Well, so happy to have
you as I've shared. I hesitate to start off by talking about cancer first, but I
do feel like it has truly shaped you and your decision. So I do think we should
start there. But maybe take us back a little bit before that. So you're 13 and
you're living your life as a normal teenager. Tell us about your life before your
diagnosis. Yeah, so well, I was just a happy teenager. I was heading into eighth
grade that year and I have a sister named Kate and brother named Jack. We're
triplets, so we're very close. And yeah, so I spent the most of my time with my
friends, playing sports, basketball, volleyball, and I attended camp every summer.
Oh, nice. Absolutely. I love that. So very involved as somebody that is not athletic
myself. I admire everyone that does all of that, especially. Yeah, I'm somewhat
athletic. I love that. Then can you tell us more about what happened prior to to
your diagnosis and how you responded to that diagnosis? - Yeah, so my symptoms really
snuck up on me. It was the day before my first day of eighth grade. My mom rented
a volleyball court at this place called Fieldhouse. And me and my friends were gonna
go up there and play volleyball since we had volleyball trials the first day of
eighth grade. And so me and my friends went to go play volleyball and I was going
up for a serve and then I just collapsed to the ground. I was in so much pain,
like it was just like out of nowhere and I can't even describe the pain because
it's just indescribable. It hurt a lot, but yeah,
I couldn't walk. So my mom had to like carry me to the car and we went to the
ER and they did scans and all of that. And they couldn't find anything.
And so they gave me a couple of shots to help with pain and then they sent me
home. And then that night, it was around like 3 a .m. I just kept tossing and
turning in bed. I was in so much pain still. And that's when my mom took me to
Baylor Scott and White in the middle of the night, and we went there, they did
MRI, a CT scan, they did all these different kinds of scans on me and blood work,
and they still didn't detect anything. They misdiagnosed me and all that, and so
that happened, they sent me home, gave me some pain medication, and then that
morning, I, sorry, it gets really emotional, I couldn't feel my legs.
Like my whole body was numb.
Yeah, it was just really scary. So I like screamed to my mom,
like I can't feel anything, I can't walk, I can't feel my legs. And so she called
my dad and my dad came to the house and he carried me into the car. We went to
the pediatrician's office and my pediatrician knew something was wrong.
So we went to the Children's Hospital and they found out that there was a tumor
compressing against my spinal cord, which led me to be numb, which my nerves and
all that. And so I, the doctors, the surgeon said, I only have a number of hours
until I'll be permanently
They did surgery that night and they took most of the tumor out, but not all of
it since it was wrapped around my spinal cord and they didn't want to cause me to
be like permanently paralyzed. And so they detected that it was Ewing's sarcoma.
Yes, absolutely. And how impactful. I can only imagine how scary that must have been
for you to have gone through that. So thank you so much for sharing that and
reliving that for a moment just to kind of let us know what that experience was
like for you. For our listeners that may not know, can you explain a little bit
about Ewing sarcoma? Yeah, yeah, Ewing sarcoma is a rare aggressive and highly
metatastic bone cancer. It primarily affects children and young adults and it's a
type of cancer that begins as a growth of cells in the bones and soft tissue
around the bones and Ewing sarcoma can happen mostly in children at any age,
but it's mostly common in children. It usually begins in the leg,
but mine was in the spine, and so it maybe the test size to my lungs.
So yeah. All right. Thank you so much for sharing. Can you talk about what life
was like after that for the few years, you're a treatment. - So after surgery to
confirm I had Ewing's, I had to go through intense chemotherapy, physical therapy,
and intense chemotherapy and physical therapy. And I started for a year and it was,
I also did radiation to get most of the tumor out since they couldn't get it
during Um, it was the hardest thing that had to go through. I lost all my hair,
lost all my eyebrows, eyelashes, every, everything. And I lost some of my friends,
um, and just overall my, my identity. Um, it was just really hard,
you know, to be with friends during all that because you're just,
I was just very like, you know, scared and, you know, it was hard for me. - Yeah,
absolutely. Definitely at that age too, having to navigating friendships is already
one challenge, but then you feel something in that is as monumental as this, and I
can only imagine. So definitely understand the impact it could have had for you. Can
you tell us about your experience at Texas Tech? You are not there. Can you tell
us a little bit about your journey and what projects you tried out? I chose Texas
Tech because my mom went there and she graduated there and they, I love the campus.
I just love the campus. It's beautiful. And they have a really good nursing program,
which I eventually want to do, still figuring it out. But yeah, I chose tri -Delta
not only because of their philanthropy, but I went through recruitment and all the
girls were just so uplifting and so sweet and, you know, I could sense their
sisterhood was so strong and that's ultimately why I picked Try Delta and yeah,
everyone's just awesome and amazing. - Absolutely. What are some of your favorite
things to do with your sisters? - Oh, well, the events are really fun. Like we have
Delta After Dark and that's a really fun event. It's like country music and you
raise funds for St. Jude and all that. And I actually lived with some of my
sisters in the house, so it's so fun, like I met them. - Yes, I love that.
The experiences that you have with your chapter sisters definitely can shape just
your whole college experience. I'm glad that you think that support from fellow
Tridel to sisters and found a home away from home and love it. - Yes. - So speaking
of Phi Eta chapter success with fundraising, can you tell us a little bit more
about some of those events some of the things that your chapter has been able to
accomplish and this journey that we have? So we have raised over one million dollars
for St. Jude at Tridel, which is amazing. I'm very happy with everyone and, you
know, their support and all that. And I'm happy that we could do that for St.
Jude. And we have hosted events like Delta After Dark, like I said, it was it's
like a country full music event. And you can make s'mores and there's activities and
people come in and they have to pay a amount of money and all the funds and
proceeds go to St. Jude. And then we have another event hosted. It's called Delta
House of Pancakes and we raised $20 ,000 this year for that,
which is awesome. And we make pancakes and you can invite your friends and your
family for that. - Yes, that is so exciting. $1 million raised. I mean, applaud you
all for that. They're only a handful of chapters in Tridolta that have made that
accomplishment. So super excited for you all to have that. And we all know that
Delta House of Pancakes is one of Tridolta's signature philanthropy events. Who knew
that pancakes were lovely? I'm glad that you all are having so much success there.
That is awesome. So you continue to advocate for cancer awareness in Ewing's Sarcoma
now today. So can you tell us a little bit more about your advocacy work? Yeah, so
I share my story with a lot of advocating websites for sarcoma awareness, such as
CancerBuddy. It's an app where you meet other survivors or people going through, you
know, cancer and it just, it really helps to meet other people, you know, who can
understand what you went through and, you know, give advice and just be there for
each other and just know that they're not alone and you know they have other people
who can you know you can meet. I've met some of my really good friends on there
too and then there's this other website called Circoma Strong and I have met a lot
of girls on that and boys and it's they're all so sweet and their stories are so
inspiring and it just you know sharing my story it really helped me spread awareness
to other people and families because there's just a lot of people who have to go
through this awful disease and you know, hope is a really good thing to share. I
love that. I love how you've taken that moment and decided that you would give back
to others and help others through it. I think that is just, that speaks a testament
to who you are as a woman and I love that. I'm so honored. I get to chat with
you about it. Thank you so much. Thank you for giving me this opportunity to share
my story with others. Yes, so I know you were sharing in your advocacy work you
support families and you've made friends that are also going through some struggles
and we've also recently learned that you were also supporting someone close to you
in this moment. Can you share a little bit of what that's about your family member
and your father and what's going on? Yeah, so my father just got diagnosed with
acute monocytic leukemia and it was a shock to all of us um it was just it's
really scary to watch him go through that because you know cancer is an awful thing
and my dad is my best friend he's the strongest person I know and I came home to
um it came home from Lubbock to be with him and to go see him at the hospital
and he just finished his first round of his chemotherapy regimen and and they're
gonna do a bone marrow biopsy to see if the chemo worked. So I just, I hope that,
you know, you can pray for over him and, you know, just pray that he's okay and
he'll be okay. - Yes, absolutely. We're definitely keeping him in your prayers and we
ask our listeners as well to do the same for us and continue to uplift Ella as
you go through these times. - Thank you. Yes. Can you tell us a little bit more
about how you are today? How are things for you? Yeah, so I am six years in
remission, NAD, which is no evidence of disease. I have to get scans once a year
since I'm thought, since I, you know, usually five years is when it's rare for the
cancer to come back. So I'm six years. And so they just want to give me, you
know, they want to do scans, just, you know, to, for precaution and you know all
that and so I have my scans in December which I'm praying that they're clear and
so yeah but right now I'm doing really good I'm mentally okay and yeah I'm excited
for the future. Yeah we're excited for you and yes keeping you and your prayers and
our prayers as you move forward with your scans this next month as well. What do
you like to do for fun? I love to go to the Texas Tech football games. My
favorite, it's my favorite time of the year. So fun, Tech's doing really good this
year. I love to go out with my friends to dinner and go on like road trips.
And I like to go to like concerts too, like country concerts. - Okay. I love that.
Who's your favorite country artist? - Love Luke Bryan. - Okay, nice. - And Zach Bryan.
- Okay, - He's a both of them, I love that. Have you seen either of them in
concert? - I've seen Luke Bryan, yes, and I loved him. He's so good. - Are you a
Swiftie? - I do, I love Taylor Swift. - Okay, have you gotten a chance to see her?
- I went to the Reputation concert, and I was so good. I wanted to go to the Ares
so bad, but I was on the waiting list so many times, and they never picked me.
- It's really cool. - It's okay, see you next time. - I - I watched the movie, it's
probably good. - You got the experience. - Yes. - Yes, with all the crazy men. So I
love that. I'm glad that you still find time to do the things that you love,
especially when you have a busy schedule as a nursing major too, I can only
imagine. That is awesome. Well, Ella, you seem just fantastic and super awesome and
resilient. Do you have any advice for people that are going through hardships? - Yes,
so what helped me was leaning on my family and faith for support like it's okay to
talk your feelings out and it's just really healthy with healing as well so.
Absolutely finding your support system and really leaning on them that's what it's
all about yes. What's next for you? Well I'm just trying to get through college and
I'm just gonna keep supporting my dad while he's going through this and you know
pray that'll be okay so right now I'm at that point where I'm just gonna be by my
dad um for this for the semester and you know we'll see how he's doing and yeah.
All right good good I love to hear that well thank you so much I really appreciate
you graciously sharing more about your story and your bravery and your kindness as
you continue to advocate for others and support others who are going through similar
things that you've gone through through. So I just think that talking to you has
been really inspirational. And thank you so much for making the time for us today.
Thank you for hotting me and allowing me to share my story really means a lot. Of
course, absolutely. Well, in our 25 years of partnership, Tri Delta has raised over
$100 million for the children and families of St. Jude. Tri Delta is the first
nonprofit partner and the fifth corporate partner overall to achieve mind's milestone.
We join the ranks of companies such as Domino's, Best Buy, and Chili's in this
incredible category, and we are very much aware that there's still a tremendous
amount of work ahead of us. We continue to raise funds and advocate for this vital
cause, one pancake dinner, dodgeball tournament, 5k, and a letter at a time,
until we help to fulfill the dream of our St. Jude founder, Danny Thomas, that no
child will die in the dawn of life. Please consider donating to the mission of St.
Jude. You can do so by heading to tridelta.org/philanthropy to donate and learn
more about our commitment to this cause. Also, we ask that you please like,
subscribe, and rate our podcast. We love five-star ratings. Thank you all so much
for joining us, and until next time, I'm Lexi Leggs. Delta Love.