Downers Grove community supports North senior battling cancer

Taylor Florey was looking forward to senior year at Downers Grove North High School, a year she expected to be filled with fun, attending games and hanging out with friends.

But everything has changed thanks to a slightly swollen right knee.

Now, the 17-year-old is facing a huge health challenge. But she is getting tremendous support from the Downers Grove community thanks to a GoFundMe page.

In August, Florey, the daughter of Jessica Angeleri and Zach Florey, was diagnosed with osteosarcoma, a type of bone cancer, in her knee.

“I was very surprised. It was the last thing I thought they would say,” Florey said.

Florey is unable to attend school in person and is studying online. She was a cheerleader through her junior year, but decided to not cheer her senior year.

“It’s only a year of my life so it seems pretty small compared to the big picture. I have a lot of good friends who help me get through it,” Florey said.

Getting a cancer diagnosis when you are 17 is stunning, but Florey is not battling her diagnosis alone.

Three weeks ago, family friend Rob Kennard, 48, of Oswego started a “Help Taylor Florey Fight Bone Cancer” page on GoFundMe to assist with what are expected to be sky-high medical bills.

A total of $48,690 had been raised as of Sept. 23, three days after Florey started her second round of chemotherapy.

“My heart is so full thinking of all the amazing people who are helping me out in so many ways. I could never imagine this being like that,” she said.

The 438 donations range from $5 up to $1,200.

Among the donors are family, friends, parents of friends and people Florey has never met.

“It is crazy. It shows that no matter who you are, everyone is so caring,” she said.

After several rounds of chemo, Florey will have surgery in November to remove the tumor and a cancerous lymph node behind her knee.

After surgery, she’s looking at probably another six months of chemo and “a lot of physical therapy and stuff,” she said.

Her mother said “it’s pretty awesome” that so much money has been raised.

“I am very surprised,” Angeleri said. “I didn’t think it’d be all these strangers, people that have no idea who we are.”

“It’s pretty amazing how much Downers Grove, as a whole, supports members of the community,” she said.

Hearing the word “cancer” in the same sentence as “Taylor” threw Angeleri for a loss.

“It was so unexpected,” Angeleri said. “Her knee was swollen a little bit. It didn’t feel real for a long time. I’m still thinking it’s not real. Definitely shocked.”

She took her daughter to urgent care Aug. 23 thinking she may have water on the knee.

“The following week, she was diagnosed. We’re about a month from learning she has cancer,” Angeleri said.

On the GoFundMe page, Kennard wrote that some people may know his longtime friend Angeleri from when she worked at Neutral Zone in Westmont and Another Round in Downers Grove.

Florey’s father has been a lead singer for many local bands through the years, Kennard wrote on the GoFundMe page.

“Taylor’s doing OK,” Kennard said. “They caught it early.”

Kennard has been impressed by Florey’s positive, upbeat attitude through the entire ordeal.

“We’re working on a benefit dinner five or six months down the road,” he said.

Florey has a younger brother, 15-year-old Nathan, who is in good health, Angeleri said.

Cancer does not run in the family, Angeleri said, “but this cancer is not genetic related. We don’t know why it happened.”

One year from now, Florey hopes to be a cancer-free freshman attending the University of Iowa, where she will major in business.