Courage Award honorees illustrate, through their personal efforts and actions, sarcoma advocacy. These individuals are patients, survivors, caregivers, and advocates who inspire others by using their platform on behalf of sarcoma patients and survivors to create hope and a better life/or the sarcoma community. Many do not think they have done something special but who have inspired others and are making a difference/or sarcoma patients and their families. The Courage Award honors patients who have demonstrated strength and perseverance in their sarcoma diagnosis.
Emily Oberst
Paralympian and Sarcoma Survivor
Emily Oberst was obsessed with basketball from a young age and had dreams of one day playing in the WNBA. At the age of 12, her world was turned upside down when she was diagnosed with Ewing’s sarcoma. Surgery and a year of chemotherapy successfully treated Emily’s sarcoma, but the surgery left her without the ability to run, jump and play basketball.
While Emily continued to attend games on the sidelines as the team’s manager, she missed being able to play with her teammates. At the age of 15, Emily was approached by a Wheelchair Basketball coach who invited her to attend one of their practices. She was initially hesitant because she didn’t understand that although she could walk, she qualified to play an adaptive sport. Emily went to that practice thinking she would politely decline the offer, but what she saw reignited her passion for basketball. Emily continued playing wheelchair basketball through high school, went on to play for the University of Illinois and is now going to her first Paralympian Games as part of the 2024 Team USA Wheelchair Basketball Team competing in Paris. Emily’s journey from diagnosis to becoming a world champion and Paralympian serves as an inspiration and provides hope to others who face their own sarcoma diagnosis.
Kelly Elmlinger
Paralympian and Sarcoma Survivor
As a sophomore in college, Kelly enlisted as an Army medic and served ten years with the 82nd Airborne Division’s Combat Aviation Unit. She served three back-to-back deployments to Afghanistan and Iraq. After being assigned to a special mission unit and completing her degree in nursing she moved to Texas and became an avid runner.
In 2013 she experienced pain in her lower left leg. Many tests later, she was diagnosed with synovial sarcoma. After several surgeries to save her leg, she made the decision to have it amputated. She did not want to stop being active, so she competed in the 2015 Los Angeles Marathon and the 2016 Boston Marathon in a racing wheelchair. Wanting to fully run again, Kelly had a desire to qualify for the USA Paratriathlon National Championships. She was named the 2018 USA Paratriathlon Developmental Athlete of the Year after winning the 2018 USA Paratriathlon National Championships in just her second triathlon since becoming an amputee. She has won multiple World Championships since and has represented Team USA as a Paralympian in 2020 at the Tokyo Games and most recently in 2024 at the Paris Games. Throughout her sarcoma journey, Kelly’s biggest source of inspiration and joy has been her daughter Jayden. Jayden was three when Kelly was diagnosed. She is proud to show her daughter that adversity doesn’t have to keep you from success. Kelly emulates this for the entire sarcoma community.
Nate Hinze
Paralympian and Sarcoma Survivor
Growing up Nate Hinze was super active, always running around and playing sports. Nate loved high school athletics and just playing and being on a team. During his junior year of high school, a lump on his leg though to be a pre-existing injury from football turned out to be osteosarcoma.
Within a week he went from playing high school basketball to starting chemotherapy three weeks later. What followed Nate’s diagnosis was nine months of chemotherapy, a series of surgeries to replace most of his lower right leg and the realization that playing stand-up basketball wasn’t going to be an option.
Nate started playing wheelchair basketball as a first-year student at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater by chance after walking into the wheelchair basketball office on campus to see if he could be the manager, take stats or anything to get him out of his dorm room and meet some new people. Little did Hinze know this one interaction out of boredom would lead to playing on national Wheelchair Basketball team and the Paralympics as part of the U.S. Wheelchair Basketball team. He has been part of the Paralympic team in the 2020 and 2024 games, where his team took gold medals at each event.
Nate’s journey from diagnosis to Paralympian shows his true courage and determination and provides hope and encouragement for the sarcoma community while raising much needed awareness about sarcoma.