Hold The Vision: Community Rallies Behind Young 'Warrior' With Cancer

BEVERLY HILLS, CA — It all started happening so fast, Laci Buller said. It was a sports injury, something so many 15-year-old athletes encounter, until all of a sudden they were booking round-the-clock doctors appointments and preparing their daughter, Zoe Suder, for chemotherapy.

"Do you know how many kids have a sports injury and think that's all? She was playing soccer in August and in October we're getting chemotherapy," Buller said. "Our world came to a halt, a screeching stop, and it's absolutely terrifying."

Suder, 15, was diagnosed in October with osteosarcoma, a type of cancer that starts in the bones and usually develops as tumors around the knee or upper arm, according to the American Cancer Society.

Zoe Suder's Beverly Hills, soccer and even out-of-state communities have rallied behind her fight, helping out with meals, rides to school for her twin, Zanny, and donating over $140,000 for medical bills.

The Fight Ahead

In July Zoe started having pain in her leg and walking with a limp. After a couple weeks of rest, she started playing soccer again and quickly hurt her hip.

Zoe started having knee issues shortly after, which brought her to physical therapy. But when physical therapy and more professional advice failed, Buller and her wife, Leslie Suder, started to suspect something was seriously wrong.

On Oct. 12, Zoe Suder had an MRI that first revealed her tumor. The revelation launched Zoe Suder and her parents into a whirlwind of tests and appointments.

Buller and her wife are taking Zoe's lead — and Zoe has a fierce attitude. She's is looking at a months-long fight starting with 10 weeks of chemotherapy, followed by surgery and then more chemotherapy. She finished her first round of chemotherapy by early November.

Zoe shows no sign of shying away, and Buller sees her job as supporting Zoe's tenacity, Buller said.

"Everything that she's done up until this point in her short 15 years on this planet has prepared her to do this," Buller said. "It's easy to fall into a place of being terrified and the worst case scenario creeping in. We reject it, and not out of denial."

Zoe Suder is leaning on her community when she needs help. She's communicating with her parents, something Buller takes as another sign of her strength. Aided by some very helpful teachers, friends and her twin sister Zanny — Zoe is determined to push through and finish her sophomore year at Beverly Hills High School on time.

"She's a warrior," Buller said.

Zoe Suder and her family are actively pushing against a doom-filled mindset. They are holding the vision of Zoe returning back to her determined, energetic self and taking her recovery one step at a time. Buller hopes the community's conversations are about Zoe's healing, not speculation about the worst case scenario, she said.

"In a really scary and difficult diagnosis, we've actually told the doctors we don't want to know the prognosis, we're not online, we're not Googling," Buller said. "I know enough to know that we've got a serious battle ahead of us, but the one thing that our family [asks] our support to do is just hold the vision and the space for Zoe to be healthy again, playing soccer again. Hold the vision of Zoe getting back to being Zoe."

'You Got This': Getting Back To Being Zoe

Zoe's story has clearly made an impact. Support has come from far beyond the Beverly Hills borders, extending into Zoe's vast soccer network, her community near her grandparents' house in Atlanta and even professional soccer players.

For Zoe Suder's family, the community support is a game-changer. The bills are adding up fast between consultations, added insurance costs, chemotherapy treatments and out-of-pocket surgery payments down the line. Her sister Zanny still has to get to school, and things like meals help Buller and Leslie Suder stay healthy to support their daughter.

A GoFundMe page that has raised over $140,000 was a turning point for the family's mindset, Buller said. A parent from Zoe's club soccer team posted the GoFundMe on social media and it made its way to ESPN Analyst Sean Farnham. From there, famous sports commentator Dick Vitale tweeted about Zoe's battle and a number of other well-known people in sports media.

The biggest moment was when World Cup and Olympic Champion soccer player Hope Solo posted about Zoe on her Instagram story.

"That was really cool to be able to show Zoe the support and the people that are rallying with her," Buller said. When Buller looked at Solo's Instagram, she realized Zoe had liked all of Solo's pictures. "How cool that someone that Zoe looks up to is actually saying, 'it's your drive as an athlete that's going to help you win this fight.'"

Let us take a moment tonight at bedtime to say a prayer for 15 yr old Zoe / my buddy @espn says she is fighting her cancer battle with incredible DESIRE - pls send🙏🙏🙏 &❤️❤️❤️ https://t.co/tyKCfn9q5n
— Dick Vitale (@DickieV) October" class="redactor-linkify-object">https://twitter.com/DickieV/st... 29, 2022

Zoe has always been the type of kid to build a strong community around her. Creating relationships is major part of the family's structure — Leslie Suder coached many of the girls' teams, and the girls have always shown their friends and teammates generosity and kindness. Seeing that genuine kindness returned when they need it the most has been one of the only grateful moments for Buller.

"You get what you give," Buller said. "I think that there's been a lot of giving through the years of just being kind, and cultivating relationships, and caring about other people, and supporting other people too. Whether it's the girls with their teammates or friends in school or soccer, or Leslie with the kids, ... it's given us an opportunity to really meet and connect with a lot of people."

The vision of Zoe returning to the soccer field with her friends is strong and powerful for Buller.

"There are a lot of statistics out there. We don't spend time looking at them because there's not another Zoe out there," Buller said. "Zoe is extraordinary."