Riding through the pain
Haney powers forward with PMC despite loss, physical discomfort
Despite all the injuries and loss she’s endured, Franny Haney remains optimistic and motivated to cure cancer. Photos courtesy Franny Haney
Every time she experiences heartbreak, and every time she experiences bliss, Franny Haney finds another reason to keep riding.
Her left leg is shattered, her body is drained, but she knows she can’t stop. She doesn’t want to stop.
She saw cancer take her cousin, Mark, this past April, at age 59. She almost saw it take her then-1-year-old cousin, Olivia, in 2016. Now, she beams with pride as she shares that Olivia has conquered brain cancer and is a happy and healthy 4 year old “spitfire,” as she endearingly calls her.
Haney knows how unrelenting and unforgiving cancer can be, but she also knows significant progress has been made. She hopes that by continuing to ride the Pan-Mass Challenge every year, she can help foster more success stories like Olivia’s.
The 24-year Duxbury resident started riding the PMC in 1998, and after a hiatus, she’s been back on the bike since 2016. Haney, 57, has raised over $25,000, including an all-time high of $7,695 this year as of this past Monday.
Olivia Tassinari can now recognize photos of herself from when she was younger and her health was significantly worse.
Raising the money doesn’t feel like a chore. It’s a passion, and she’s eagerly awaiting the ride in early August alongside her partner Sue Kiley.
“We laugh along the way,” Haney said. “It’s not a mournful day. It’s a positive experience of love.”
‘Miracle from inception’
When Andrea Tassinari announced she was pregnant, her baby shower wasn’t an ordinary celebration.
Andrea had been trying for years, and finally, Olivia Tassinari entered the world Aug. 21, 2014.
“She was a miracle from inception,” Haney said. “Everybody knew that this baby was something special.”
When Olivia was 1 year old, she started having severe stomach pains, so the family went to the pediatrician to try and pinpoint the root of the problem.
The pediatrician was stumped and sent her to South Shore Hospital, and they couldn’t figure it out either. Olivia had started to walk, but suddenly, she was losing her balance and toppling over like a domino.
Andrea Tassinari is grateful that Franny Haney is always there to support her daughter, Olivia.
Eventually, at Children’s Hospital, a doctor decided to inspect the area near the neck. They sent Olivia in for an MRI and discovered an egg-sized tumor in her brain. It was worse than her family could have possibly imagined.
Brain cancer. At 18 months.
The next day, they did a craniotomy to remove the tumor, but Olivia’s journey had just begun. She endured seven months of chemotherapy and three stem cell transplants.
That was in 2016. Now, at age 4, Olivia has overcome more the past few years than many people do in a lifetime. She’s currently cancer-free, and she can’t wait to turn 5 soon and start kindergarten a few weeks later.
“She has this wonderful personality,” Andrea Tassinari said. “The laugh that can light up a room. You can’t put it into words how far she’s come.”
Haney has been there every step of the way. She was there in the ICU back in 2016, and she’s there now to giggle while they jump on the trampoline after she picks her up from school.
Olivia Tassinari was diagnosed with brain cancer at age 1, but now she’s made a full recovery and is cancer-free.
There’s a picture on the wall at the Tassinari home where Olivia and Andrea are nose to nose. It was taken seconds before she was about to walk into her craniotomy. Olivia glanced at the picture recently and asked if it was a photo of her and her Mama. Andrea stopped putting Olivia’s shin guards on momentarily and looked up at the photo. “It is, honey,” she said. “Is that when I was sick, and the doctors made me feel better?” Olivia asked.
“I about lost it,” Andrea says now, inspired by her daughter’s progress. Olivia can recognize herself at a younger age, and the whole extended family lives by the motto “Olivia Strong.”
Haney knows that after Olivia fought as valiantly as she did, the least she can do now is raise money and ride the PMC every year. Andrea is amazed and forever grateful for how much Haney has done for Olivia, but for Haney, it’s a gift and an opportunity.
Duxbury’s Franny Haney trains hard for the PMC every year.
“I see that girl, and I feel joy,” Haney said. “There’s no way around it. I just feel joy.”
Added motivation
As Franny Haney crept through the hallway of the sixth floor at Brigham and Women’s Hospital – the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute floor – she couldn’t help but feel as though there was something different about the feel of the area. The intensity and compassion of the doctors was unlike anything she had experienced before.
As she made her way to her cousin, Mark Gerry’s room, she peered at each door, with a patient’s name on the outside.
“One day, their name wasn’t on the outside of that door and you wondered, did they benefit from all the research and all the care, or was it maybe too late for them?” Haney said.
Doctors told Gerry that if they could get him another year or two, they might have a cure for the colon cancer infiltrating his body. He died this past April 29 at age 59, and Haney is dedicating this year’s ride to him with the hope that someone else in his situation will get that extra time.
Olivia Tassinari and Franny Haney bring out the best in each other.
Of course, she’ll always ride for Olivia, but now she has extra motivation. Mark’s wife, Edna, and 17-year-old daughter, Alana, will be there to greet Haney at the finish line. Haney wishes she was riding in honor of Mark, like she is for Olivia, but instead, she’s prepared to ride in memory of him.
They talked in March about Haney riding the PMC in his memory this year if he didn’t make it. Though they were cousins, it felt to Haney more like they were siblings.
“I miss him all the time,” Haney said. “I get emotional now, thinking, about it, so I can’t imagine what it will feel like that day.”
Through the pain
This past November, Haney was heading to Europe to visit her son, who was studying abroad. She was at Santander Bank, and suddenly she turned around and broke her hip.
What would be an unpleasant injury for anyone was far worse for her because of a ghastly snowboarding accident she suffered in 2014. Haney shattered her entire left leg that day, and she currently has 17 pieces of hardware in that leg alone.
Riding is significantly more difficult now than when she first started, but that doesn’t stop her from trying.
“I go out for a ride and I pay for it for a couple days afterward,” Haney said. “Every single time that I’m in pain because of my leg, I have to remember that my pain is nothing compared to what they went through. This is the least that I could do. Does it hurt? Yes, it hurts. But it’s just the gift that I want to give.”
Haney also knows that nothing in life is a guarantee. She hopes she has decades in front of her, but she knows cancer runs in her family. People tend to think they’re invincible, but she’s learned through a sobering account of family history that that’s far from the case.
She’s seen those she loves die from testicular cancer, lung cancer, breast cancer and colon cancer, and she’s also seen how raising money can help save lives.
The PMC helps her celebrate life.
“People understand why you’re doing it,” Haney said. “I can’t wait to have that experience again.”
You can donate to Dana-Farber, on behalf of Franny Haney, at profile.pmc.org/FH0026.
