When I was in fourth grade, a new family, the Noorchashm’s, had joined my school. They were a family relocating from Boston, MA to Bucks County, PA with four sons and two daughters enrolling in my school. There was all of this excitement over such a big family joining our community as that rarely happened at my Catholic k-8. Nevertheless, the school year started, and the third oldest, Ava, was in my grade. We soon were in the same classes and friends groups, and the two of us became instant friends.

The reason for the family’s move was unbeknownst to me and many other students, but parents soon began to talk with word spreading. The matriarch, Dr. Amy Reed, had been fighting her journey with a form of cancer called sarcoma. Dr. Reed had undergone a surgery to remove the fibroid (tumor) form her body with confidence from her doctors. Her doctors insisted on using a power morcellator instead of an open-abdomen surgery to remove the cancerous fibroid. This tool offered a less invasive alternative with the intent to enter the body and morcellate, or chop up, the fibroid tissue.Within a week after the surgery, the doctors had reports that the cancer seemingly spread to other areas of her body in an aggressive fashion.

The morcellator did the exact opposite of its intended purpose for Dr. Reed. The family’s move to Bucks County, PA was to reach other professional help and research within the Greater Philadelphia area. Dr. Reed’s story is a very tragic one to say the least, but the surrounding community put our best foot forward to offer all the support we could. The Noorchashm’s soon started a foundation called Slay Sarcoma with an annual 5k run to support research efforts into sarcoma and the utilization of power morcellators. Dr. Reed passed away on May 24, 2017 due to the complications of the cancer’s spread, but her legacy will always precede her.

Dr. Reed’s journey opened the doors for other women to come out against the utilization of the power morcellator and how it is a dangerous tool. Before her death, Dr. Reed and her husband, Dr. Hooman Noorchashm, supported a bill called the Medical Device Guardians Act of 2016 with support form Representative Mark Fitzpatrick (R-PA) and Representative Louise Slaughter (D-NY). The implications of the bill would require doctors or hospitals to report issues associated with medical devices to the Food and Drug Administration. This would protect entities from liability to exposed reports.

The bill was passed and serves as a significant impact within the medical field and a necessary safety precaution. No one in our school community had none about this situation before, but Dr. Reed’s story truly opened our eyes to the danger of such a tool. Inevitably, her story has made a larger impact and continues to be an inspiration for many. More legislation should be introduced similar to the 2016 bill in order to reasonably define bioethics for the overall care of patients.