The pain in Oskar Nord’s left hip felt like a well-earned wound of honor. After all, the 21-year-old had just pounded pavement for 13.1 miles, successfully running his first half marathon.

But the pain persisted after the race, for days, then weeks, then a couple of months. Nord went to the doctor and was diagnosed with tendonitis. He tried physical therapy, but the pain didn’t subside. Still, he didn’t think much of it, even as he considered taking some time off from his job in Madison, Wis., to heal.

When his mom, Susie Torinus, heard about his plans to stop working, the alarm bells in her head—the ones that have been finely tuned over a decades-long nursing career—started blaring.

“I was like, ‘Oskar, hold on a minute, something is wrong here,’” she recalls. “I told him to go back to the doctor and not leave until he got an MRI.”

On a Friday afternoon in December 2022, Nord heeded his mom’s advice. He figured he’d get the MRI results the following week. But his phone rang that night.

“I remember thinking, ‘What? Why are they calling me right now?’” Nord remembers. “Sure enough, they found a mass on my hip the size of my fist.”

Within just a few days, Nord was back home in Minnesota to be closer to his mom, who was ready to help her son find answers. Based on a family friend’s recommendation, Nord made an appointment with Denis Clohisy, MD, an M Health Fairview orthopaedic oncologist. The 22-year-old-to-be was about to embark on an unexpected journey, one that would include chemotherapy, surgery, more chemotherapy, an arduous recovery, a cancer-fighting clothing company—and ultimately, a new purpose in life.

“I never thought something like this would happen to someone like me, someone my age,” Nord says. “Life moves so quickly. But my outlook is totally different now. I am more grateful for where I am today and the things I have than I ever was before.”

The right place

Less than a week after his MRI, Nord was sitting in front of Clohisy, who suspected that the mass on Nord’s hip was indeed cancerous. A biopsy confirmed those suspicions, and Nord was diagnosed with Ewing sarcoma, a rare type of bone cancer that usually appears in children and young adults.

Clohisy explained to Nord and Torinus that treatment would happen in three phases: an initial blast of chemotherapy to shrink the tumor, surgery to remove what was left of it, and a cleanup dose of chemo to ensure the cancer was gone.

At 21, Nord found himself straddling the divide between childhood and adulthood. Though his mom still affectionately called him a “kid,” he was legally an adult, and he had a choice between a pediatric or adult cancer care team. He ultimately chose to be treated at M Health Fairview Masonic Children’s Hospital.

“I was initially trying to get my head around that idea of Oskar being treated at a children’s hospital, and how that would look and feel,” Torinus recalls. “But within about five seconds, I was like, ‘Oh, thank goodness we’re here.’ Everyone was so smiley and sunshiny. They were just magical. I don’t have the words to describe that place.”

Throwing punches

The day after Christmas 2022, less than three weeks after his MRI, Nord had the first of eight doses of presurgery chemotherapy. By mid-January, the biweekly regimen began to take its toll. Nord lost his hair, but his friends rallied around him, shaving their heads in a show of solidarity and love.

“I remember reading this quote that said something like, ‘The more you’re afraid of something, the more likely it is to happen,’” Nord says. “I think that with all the people supporting me and helping me, I didn’t fear the worst-case scenarios. It sounds corny, but I really think that support had an impact on my treatment.”

Sure enough, the chemotherapy did its job, killing 92% of the tumor in Nord’s leg, Clohisy says. He and his team then removed 17 centimeters from the top of Nord’s femur bone and eight centimeters from the surrounding tissue, and then reconstructed the hip joint. Recovery from such an operation is rough, Clohisy says, but as soon as Nord was feeling a bit better, chemotherapy resumed.

“If you think of it like a boxing match, and the chemo is a punch, it’s better to throw your punches as fast as you can to tire out your opponent as soon as possible,” Clohisy says. 

Nord persevered through several more rounds of chemotherapy and physical rehabilitation that included relearning how to walk.

At the end of July 2023, he had his final dose of chemo. Torinus gets choked up thinking about that moment.

“We leave Oskar’s room, and there’s the whole floor of nurses and care providers, just clapping for us,” she says. “I didn’t see that coming. It was fantastic.”

Oskar’s club

Nord was relieved to be done with treatment, but a feeling he wasn’t expecting hit him soon after: sadness.

“People are always surprised when I say that, but Masonic was so magical, and all the people that are there, they truly are the most special human beings ever,” he says. “And so, yeah, I was excited to be done with the treatment and I never wanted to go back. But I missed the people, and I wanted to find a way to give back and stay connected to the community that took such good care of me.”

It didn’t take long for him to find a way. Inspired by the popular streetwear brand Anti Social Social Club, Nord had an idea to create a line of fashionable sweatshirts and merchandise, with a portion of sales benefiting cancer research and care at the University of Minnesota Medical School and M Health Fairview. 

Within a few months, Nord’s Anti Cancer Club was born.

He moved to Chicago to pursue his new dream, teaching himself graphic design and the basics of business management. Combining bold colors and bubbly lettering, Anti Cancer Club clothing puts a youthful spin on cancer awareness and support. Nord sold the first hoodie in January 2024. By the end of the year, he had sold more than 300.

Seeing people buy and wear the sweatshirts he designed is awesome, he says, but the connections they cultivate have been far more meaningful.

“Whenever I wear one of my hoodies, people stop and ask about it,” he says. “The conversations I get to have are so cool. Cancer is obviously so prevalent, but I feel like the sweatshirts give people something tangible to believe in and feel good about.”

They’ve given him something to feel good about, too, just a few years after cancer upended his life. Now 24 years old, Nord says he’s living with a newfound sense of resiliency, purpose, and peace.

“There’s another quote I like: ‘Never fear a storm, just learn to dance in the rain,’” Nord says. “That’s how I try to live every day.”

Visit anticancer.club to purchase an Anti Cancer Club hoodie or visit z.umn.edu/ACCFund to make a gift to support the Anti Cancer Club Fund through the University of Minnesota Foundation.