Diagnosed With Sarcoma at 21, She Found Her People at Mary's Place

Emma Halligan was 21 and sitting in a beach chair at the Jersey Shore in July 2024 when she felt a pop in her hip and knew something was wrong. Weeks later, she was diagnosed with sarcoma, a rare cancer.

What followed was six rounds of chemotherapy, a seven-hour surgery to remove the tumor and relearning how to walk at 22. Halligan was almost always the youngest person in the infusion center.

It wasn't until a retreat at Mary's Place by the Sea in Ocean Grove, New Jersey, that she met other young women who understood what being diagnosed so young really meant.

"I got diagnosed with cancer at 21, and found Mary's Place shortly after my treatment was done, and it was just such a wonderful place to come and relax, and it was my reward for finishing treatment," Halligan, now 24, said in an interview at the organization's annual Walk-A-Thon and 5K Run on Oct. 17.

Finding people who understand

"It really gives you a place to connect with other people that understand you and understand what you've been through," Halligan said.

Halligan, who lives in New Jersey’s Monmouth County, spent this year's event face painting. "I feel like they just did so much for me that this is my little way of giving back to them and everything amazing that they do," she said.

What is Mary's Place by the Sea?

Since 2009, Mary's Place by the Sea has offered free support and integrative services to women with cancer. The home steps from the ocean has welcomed more than 17,000 women for overnight stays, day visits, support groups, counseling and virtual services, all at no cost.

"At Mary's Place by the Sea, our goal is to treat the whole person, mind, body, and soul," founder and executive director Michele Gannon said in an interview at the event. "Every woman diagnosed with cancer, any type of cancer, any stage."

Gannon said the heart of the program is the bond between guests: "It's the connection that the women make with one another, and I believe that is when the healing begins."

A day of community

This year marked the 15th annual Walk-A-Thon and the eighth annual 5K, with about 1,700 people expected and a fundraising goal of $200,000 to keep every service free.

"We have family members of guests who have already passed, and they still are here to support, and it's just a wonderful day of a Mary's Place community," Gannon said in the interview.

Next, Gannon said, the organization is working on an expansion into New England.

"We're just wanting to support all women when they come to that moment where they just know they need something, but they're not sure what it is," she said. "And we want them to call Mary's Place by the Sea."

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