Health
Cancer survivor and world-champion Irish dancer raises money for hospital that saved her life
After fighting for her life twice, Megan Stuart, 20, is using a personal victory as a springboard for giving back to the hospital that saved her.
The Minneapolis woman has already faced her share of challenges.
Stuart and her twin brother were born eight weeks early. Then, at just 4 months old, she was diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer, she said.
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Years later, just as she was on the verge of achieving her life’s goal in Irish dancing, the COVID pandemic shut down her favorite sport.
Even so, in an on-camera interview with Fox News Digital, Stuart referred to herself a number of times as “lucky.” (See the video at the top of this article.)
Megan Stuart, 20, of Minneapolis, was recently crowned world champion at the 2024 CLRG World Championships of Irish dance, right. She’s using her win to raise money for the cancer charity that helped her as an infant, left. (Courtesy Megan Stuart/Shamrock Photography)
She was lucky, she said, that Children’s Minnesota — the hospital where she and her brother spent 40 days in the NICU after their premature birth — had the facilities and know-how to treat an infant with stage 3 neuroblastoma.
And now she is lucky, she added, that she’s been given a platform to give back to it.
After nearly a decade of attempts and close finishes, Stuart was crowned the world champion in Irish dance last March at the CLRG World Championships in Glasgow, Scotland. The CLRG is the world’s largest and oldest Irish dance governing body.
“I think it would be really great to do something to just give back.”
Celebrating a victory with a large party with family and friends is customary, but Stuart is marking her championship by raising money for the Cancer Kids Fund at Children’s Minnesota, a charity close to her heart.
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“This is something I’ve been thinking about [doing] for a really long time, before I even won — I was like, ‘Wow, I think it would be really great to do something to just give back,’” Stuart told Fox News Digital in an on-camera interview.
“I feel really, really lucky to not only have had Children’s Minnesota in my life, but also to have survived cancer and to have their entire team … contribute to saving my life, and then … to have a great dance community,” she said.
Fighting for her life
Stuart’s mother first noticed something was off with her newborn daughter shortly after the doctors released her baby from the NICU.
“I think it was after a couple of weeks, [my mother] was like, ‘Something’s just not right. Megan’s not quite matching up with John in terms of traditional development,’” Stuart recounted to Fox News Digital. “There were some weird illness-like symptoms going on.”
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Tests for common illnesses such as RSV and flu came back negative. But Stuart’s mother “just kept insisting that something was wrong.”
After more rounds of testing, Stuart’s markers indicated that she had stage 3 neuroblastoma, a rare cancer that develops in nerve tissue.
Her doctors were stunned, even re-running the tests to ensure the results were not a fluke.
Stuart and her twin brother spent 40 days in the NICU at Children’s Minnesota after they were born prematurely. The Stuart family then found themselves back at the same hospital after her cancer diagnosis. (Children’s Minnesota)
Dr. Susan Sencer, vice president of chief specialty pediatrics at Children’s Minnesota, was Stuart’s oncologist.
“I have had the privilege of witnessing some truly remarkable journeys, Megan’s being one of them,” she told Fox News Digital in an interview.
After her diagnosis, “Megan faced an incredibly challenging start to life,” Sencer said, noting that “her resilience and determination throughout treatment were extraordinary.”
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The medical team faced unique challenges in treating Stuart, who was extremely small due to her premature birth.
While Stuart said the harsh chemotherapy drugs “majorly affected” her development, she has not had any significant long-term health impacts, which she called “unbelievable.”
“They always look for major heart defects, and [chemotherapy] can really affect your hearing, too,” she said, which, for an Irish dancer, would prove disastrous.
Stuart, shown in both images above, was diagnosed with stage 3 neuroblastoma before she was 5 months old. The chemotherapy she received as an infant does not appear to have had any lasting health effects. (Courtesy Megan Stuart/Shamrock Photography)
For two years after the diagnosis, the Stuarts “basically lived” at Children’s Minnesota, she said, during which time they “benefited greatly” from the Cancer Kids Fund.
The fund provides child care for patients’ siblings, plus arts and crafts programs and other services outside the medical setting.
With her fundraiser, Stuart is aiming to help other families facing situations similar to what she went through years ago.
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Stuart regards her championship win as an opportunity to tie together two key communities in her life, cancer survival and Irish dance.
‘Dead set on winning’
Stuart began taking Irish dance classes at Corda Mór Irish Dance in Edina, Minnesota, at age 4, following in her older sister’s footsteps. (In Gaelic, “Corda Mór” means “great heart.”)
“In typical little sister fashion, I just wanted to be like her,” she told Fox News Digital. “I thought she was the best dancer I’d ever seen.”
At the time she laced up her first pair of dance shoes, Stuart had just been declared cancer-free, something she said was a “cool coincidence.”
Megan Stuart, left, started dancing because she wanted to be like her older sister, Molly Stuart, right. She won her first regional title at the age of 10. (Courtesy Megan Stuart)
Right away, she set a goal to win a world title.
“As soon as I knew … what the world championships were, I was dead set on winning,” she said. “Not because I was like, ‘Oh, I need to win,’ but I just thought how cool it would be.”
While Stuart quickly experienced success at the regional level, winning her first local championship in 2014 at age 10, she was a long way from winning a world title.
Right away, she set a goal to win a world title.
In 2020, Stuart finally won a major international competition – the All-Ireland Championships – and seemed well on her way to achieving the goal she’d set as a child.
Then, just weeks later, the 2020 world championships were canceled due to the COVID pandemic. The 2021 world championships were called off as well.
Undeterred, Stuart kept training — and in 2022, she placed second at the world championships. While she was thrilled with the outcome, she believed she had the potential to win.
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In 2023, Stuart again placed second at the world championships.
“Being so close to the top so many times, it really pushed me over the edge to my very best level,” she said.
Instead of focusing on winning, she centered her training on “finding reason within dancing” and performing for the love of it.
On March 29, 2024, Stuart’s dream became a reality. As the announcer at the world championships announced the second-place dancer – it was not Stuart – she jumped to her feet, screaming.
Fauna Gille, co-owner of Corda Mór Irish Dance, told Fox News Digital it was clear from the beginning that Stuart was a champion in the making.
“To win Worlds became Megan’s dream, but it’s the journey to get there that has given us the memories of a lifetime,” Gille said in an email.
“Megan has shown us what ‘great heart’ means throughout this journey, through her kind spirit, perseverance, passion for her craft, and steady and strong nature through the many ups and downs of both Irish dancing and life,” she said.
Stuart, said Gille, “is a role model for her peers, and an inspiration to her teachers and so many others.”
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Sencer, Stuart’s oncologist, agreed with that.
“I’m not surprised she’s now a world champion dancer,” she said. “Her transformation from a tiny patient battling cancer to a celebrated dancer on the global stage is a testament to her incredible strength, perseverance and passion for life.”
“Her transformation from a tiny patient battling cancer to a celebrated dancer on the global stage is a testament to her incredible strength, perseverance and passion for life,” Dr. Susan Sencer, Stuart’s oncologist, told Fox News Digital. (Children’s Minnesota)
Stuart’s triumph, said Sencer, is “a powerful reminder that with courage and support, it is possible to overcome even the most daunting obstacles and achieve greatness.”
The doctor added, “Megan’s journey inspires hope and proves that life after cancer can be full of vibrant possibilities.”
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For her part, Stuart said, “Standing on the podium during that award ceremony, I was like, ‘Wow, this is so meaningful.’”
She went on, “My life is truly incredible, and I just feel – there’s no better word for it – so incredibly lucky.”
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Study finds link between obesity and vascular dementia
Fox News senior medical analyst Dr. Marc Siegel joins ‘America’s Newsroom’ to discuss an increase in colon cancer in people under 50 despite an overall lowering cancer deaths and a new study linking obesity to vascular dementia.
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A new blood test could determine a woman’s dementia risk as early as 25 years before symptoms emerge.
That’s according to new research from the University of California San Diego, which found that a specific biomarker protein associated with early pathological processes of Alzheimer’s disease was “strongly linked” to future dementia risk.
The researchers analyzed blood samples from 2,766 participants in the Women’s Health Initiative Memory Study in the late 1990s, according to the study’s press release.
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The women ranged from 65 to 79 years of age and showed no signs of cognitive decline at the start of the study.
After tracking the participants for up to 25 years, the researchers concluded that the biomarker phosphorylated tau 217 (p-tau217) was “strongly associated” with future mild cognitive impairment and dementia.
A new blood test could determine a woman’s dementia risk as early as 25 years before symptoms emerge. (iStock)
Women who had higher levels of p-tau217 at the beginning of the study were “much more likely” to develop the disease. The findings were published today in JAMA Network Open.
“The key takeaway is that our study suggests it may be possible to detect risk of dementia two decades in advance using a simple blood test in older women,” first author Aladdin H. Shadyab, a UC San Diego associate professor of public health and medicine, told Fox News Digital.
“These biomarkers may help us identify who is at greatest risk and develop strategies to delay or prevent dementia.”
“Our findings show that the blood biomarker p-tau217 could help identify individuals at higher risk for dementia long before symptoms begin,” he added.
This long lead time could open the door to earlier prevention strategies and more targeted monitoring, rather than waiting until memory problems are already affecting daily life, according to Shadyab.
A specific biomarker protein associated with early pathological processes of Alzheimer’s disease was “strongly linked” to future dementia risk. (iStock)
“As the research advances, these biomarkers may help us identify who is at greatest risk and develop strategies to delay or prevent dementia,” he said.
This risk relationship wasn’t the same across the board, however. Women over 70 with higher p-tau217 levels had “poorer cognitive outcomes” compared to those under 70, as did those with the APOE ε4 gene, which is a known risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease.
The study also found that p-tau217 was a stronger predictor of dementia in women who were randomly assigned to receive estrogen and progestin hormone therapy compared to those who received a placebo.
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“Blood-based biomarkers like p-tau217 are especially promising because they are far less invasive and potentially more accessible than brain imaging or spinal fluid tests,” said senior author Linda K. McEvoy, senior investigator at Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute and professor emeritus at the Herbert Wertheim School of Public Health, in the release.
“Blood-based biomarkers like p-tau217 are especially promising because they are far less invasive and potentially more accessible than brain imaging or spinal fluid tests,” a researcher said. (iStock)
“This is important for accelerating research into the factors that affect the risk of dementia and for evaluating strategies that may reduce risk.”
Blood tests for Alzheimer’s disease are still being studied and are not recommended for routine screening in people without symptoms, Shadyab noted.
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More research is needed before this approach can be considered for clinical use prior to cognitive symptoms.
Future studies should investigate how other factors — like genetics, hormone therapy and age-related medical conditions — might interact with plasma p-tau217, the researchers added.
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“The study examined only older women, so the findings may not necessarily apply to men or younger populations,” Shadyab noted. “We also examined overall dementia outcomes rather than specific subtypes such as Alzheimer’s disease.”
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For women over 60, muscle strength plays a critical role in longevity, a new study confirms.
Researchers at the University at Buffalo, New York, followed more than 5,000 women between the ages of 63 and 99, finding that those with greater muscle strength had a significantly lower risk of death over an eight-year period.
The findings were published in JAMA Network Open.
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Muscle function was measured using grip strength and how quickly participants could complete five unassisted sit-to-stand chair raises.
These are two tests commonly used in clinical settings to evaluate muscle function in older adults, the researchers noted.
A recent study shows that stronger muscle strength in women over 60 is linked to a lower risk of death over eight years. (iStock)
“In a community cohort of ambulatory older women, muscular strength was associated with significantly lower mortality rates, even when we accounted for usual physical activity and sedentary time measured using a wearable monitor, gait speed and blood C-reactive protein levels,” study lead author Michael LaMonte, research professor of epidemiology and environmental health at the University at Buffalo, told Fox News Digital.
“Movement is the key — just move more and sit less.”
Many earlier studies did not include those objective measurements, making it difficult to determine whether muscle strength itself was linked to longevity, according to LaMonte. “Our study was able to better isolate the association between strength and death in later life,” he added.
Even for women who don’t get the recommended amount of aerobic physical activity, which is at least 150 minutes per week, muscle strength remained important for longevity, the researchers found.
Women with greater muscle strength were more likely to live longer, even if they did not meet the recommended amount of aerobic exercise. (iStock)
“The findings of lower mortality in those who had higher strength but were not meeting current national guidelines on aerobic activity were somewhat intriguing,” LaMonte said.
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Federal guidelines recommend strengthening activities one to two days per week, targeting major muscle groups.
Resistance training does not have to require a gym membership, LaMonte noted. These exercises can be performed using free weights, resistance bands, bodyweight movements or even household items, such as soup cans.
Experts recommend working major muscle groups one or two days a week using weights, bands or bodyweight exercises. (iStock)
“Movement is the key — just move more and sit less,” he said. “When we can no longer get out of the chair and move around, we are in trouble.”
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LaMonte acknowledged several limitations of the study. The researchers assessed muscle strength in older age but did not explore how earlier levels in adulthood might influence long-term health outcomes.
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“We were not able to understand how strength and mortality relate in younger ages,” he said, noting that future research should explore whether building strength earlier could have an even greater impact on longevity.
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