KULPMONT - Facing high school baseball players from Shamokin Area and Mount Carmel Area high schools, Kaitlyn Montgomery told her story of how an injury while participating in high school sports saved her life.
It was a recommendation by her track and field coach to see a doctor following a pole vault injury that led to the discovery that what she thought for months was a cold causing lumps in her neck was actually stage 3 Hodgkin's lymphoma.
The 22-year-old, who has been cancer free for more than four years after six months of chemotherapy, threw out the ceremonial first pitch at the Veterans Memorial Sports Complex in Kulpmont.
Cassandra Niglio, coordinator of Mount Carmel Area's ThinkBIG Dance Marathon and classmate of Montgomery at Bloomsburg University, invited the Pipersville native to the "Gold Sock Game," which was renamed for the day to coincide with the gold socks worn by both teams to raise cancer awareness. Student leaders of the marathon also collected donations, which will go to Geisinger Janet Weis Children's Hospital's ThinkBIG Pediatric Cancer Fund.
Montgomery said she suffered through health issues, including sickness and hair loss, during treatment. She stressed that detecting cancer early can make a big difference.
"Know your body. I consider my pole vault injury to be lucky, because it sent me to the doctor," she said. "The only option I had was to fight."