SALEM, Va. – The AWARE Foundation, Mainstream Mental Health Services, and the Salem Red Sox are celebrating a 16-year-old boy who is currently battling cancer.
Camden Thepsimuong threw out the first pitch at Saturday’s Salem Red Sox game.
“I think I’m going to at least throw it on target, that’s my goal for today,” Camden said. “Not a strike, but on target.”
He was diagnosed with Osteosarcoma, a type of bone cancer. The tumor was found in Thepsimuong’s knee in July after he was taken to the emergency room for a worsening limp.
While he was limited to crutches, he still completed a Quinceañera and camps for both church and tennis. He was also a defensive lineman at his high school and the #2 tennis player of his 10th grade year.
“I had no idea I was ever going to do this in life ever before. If you said I’d be here two years ago, I’d be like, ‘you’re crazy,’” Camden said. “I don’t do baseball. I don’t throw pitches.”
Even with his leg amputated and replaced with a prosthetic (which Camden jokingly called an upgrade), his pitch was indeed a strike, as he threw out the first pitch to the sound of a roaring crowd.
His fight with cancer is still ongoing and he and his family are weighing their options regarding another round of chemotherapy.
“We just had a previous scan not too long ago, some of the cells say that they’re dead and calcified, which is really good,” Camden said. “Some of them are stable, which is also good. And then two, which have increased in size by two millimeters each.”
Despite everything he has undergone, Cam continues to be an inspiration to friends, family and an entire community.
“He’s constantly strong. That’s how it’s been since the moment he’s been diagnosed,” his mother said. “Like I said, he’s just very strong, very very strong.”
