These Cancer Patients Held a Women's March in the Hospital

Mattie Kahn
Updated
Photo credit: Twitter/@allieoetken
Photo credit: Twitter/@allieoetken

From ELLE

As hundreds of thousands of women took to the streets to march for equality this weekend, several women near Los Angeles decided they, too, wanted to protest.

But these women, who are currently in treatment for cancer, couldn't travel to participate in the worldwide phenomenon. So, they decided to have an alternative protest-in their hospital.

Allie Oetken, who's currently battling Stage 4 Ewing's Sarcoma, a rare bone cancer, added on Twitter that according to their treatment plans, the women have to walk around anyway, so "we turned it into part of the march." Nurses accompanied the women as they walked, pulling IV towers taped with signs that read "Women's March 2017" and "March for Our Rights" behind them.

We reached out to Oetken, who described her march like this:

"I've been a cancer patient for 2+ years now and have had clear scans until just about last weekend [when] they found a tumor on my skull. So I've been in the hospital mostly for pain management while we figure out what the plan is moving forward. Well that morning I knew there was going to be multiple women's marches around the country [and] world and was pretty bummed I wasn't going to be apart of it, especially since my friends were going to the LA one. Well in the middle of my wallowing, I heard another lady squeaking down the hallway chanting something so I went out and joined her and we had put together signs that say "Freedom for All" and things like that and marched with our IV poles as well as some of the nurses. It was small but very meaningful that I got to feel part of it and protest the new President and the gross rhetoric and behavior that comes with his power and followers when I otherwise would have had to stay sick in bed and essentially be silent."

Now, there were many clever posters over the weekend and a million reasons to be inspired. Women marched in cities around the world and on all seven continents, even Antarctica. But if we had to choose, this small demonstration is probably the best evidence of all that we really are Stronger Together.

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