When she was preparing to sing "The Star-Spangled Banner" at Fenway Park, Amesbury resident Denise DeSimone pictured the stands as two arms surrounding and hugging her. After she sang the final notes of the national anthem Saturday to the roar of the crowd, she felt the embrace for real.
"My feet were not on the ground," DeSimone said. "I'd heard that before, but I felt so lifted up ... it felt like angels were carrying me along."
DeSimone, 52, had many reasons to be overwhelmed, not the least that two years ago, doctors told her she might never sing again. She had been diagnosed with throat cancer and eventually had the left side of her neck removed as part of the treatments for stage IV squamous cell carcinoma. But DeSimone fought back, undergoing extreme heat therapy of 140 degrees Farenheit when radiation treatment failed.
DeSimone discovered the cancer as a result of her participation in the 2005 Pan-Mass Challenge, an 84-mile bicycle ride across the state to raise money to fight cancer. "I was so out of breath, I thought I was dying," she said. "Turns out, I was."
Later that year, DeSimone was told she had just three months to live.
"I had no idea I was riding for myself," she said.
This year, she was eager to use her singing to draw attention to the ride, which takes place on Aug. 4 and 5.
"That's the most important part of this whole thing," DeSimone said. "Cancer is on the rise, but the government is cutting funds ... but if all of us pull together, we can make a difference."
After being unable to sing for a year, DeSimone had to slowly work to regain her form. She's sung at Unity on the River for the past 10 years and has performed at coffee shops and weddings for twice as long, but singing after recovering from cancer provided new challenges. DeSimone can't produce saliva, so she had to use artificial moistener just before taking the microphone, she said.
And "The Star-Spangled Banner" is a notoriously difficult song to sing. DeSimone joked that her main preparation was "a lot of prayer," but she also worked on her breathing and pitch. The song requires a broad range, she said.
"You need to start low so you don't end up screeching," DeSimone said. "You have to have a good range, which I'm blessed to have."
"My feet were not on the ground," DeSimone said. "I'd heard that before, but I felt so lifted up ... it felt like angels were carrying me along."
DeSimone, 52, had many reasons to be overwhelmed, not the least that two years ago, doctors told her she might never sing again. She had been diagnosed with throat cancer and eventually had the left side of her neck removed as part of the treatments for stage IV squamous cell carcinoma. But DeSimone fought back, undergoing extreme heat therapy of 140 degrees Farenheit when radiation treatment failed.
DeSimone discovered the cancer as a result of her participation in the 2005 Pan-Mass Challenge, an 84-mile bicycle ride across the state to raise money to fight cancer. "I was so out of breath, I thought I was dying," she said. "Turns out, I was."
Later that year, DeSimone was told she had just three months to live.
"I had no idea I was riding for myself," she said.
This year, she was eager to use her singing to draw attention to the ride, which takes place on Aug. 4 and 5.
"That's the most important part of this whole thing," DeSimone said. "Cancer is on the rise, but the government is cutting funds ... but if all of us pull together, we can make a difference."
After being unable to sing for a year, DeSimone had to slowly work to regain her form. She's sung at Unity on the River for the past 10 years and has performed at coffee shops and weddings for twice as long, but singing after recovering from cancer provided new challenges. DeSimone can't produce saliva, so she had to use artificial moistener just before taking the microphone, she said.
And "The Star-Spangled Banner" is a notoriously difficult song to sing. DeSimone joked that her main preparation was "a lot of prayer," but she also worked on her breathing and pitch. The song requires a broad range, she said.
"You need to start low so you don't end up screeching," DeSimone said. "You have to have a good range, which I'm blessed to have."
Still, DeSimone was a little nervous when she went onto the field. But with 40 friends and family members watching from behind home plate and other cancer survivors and Pan-Mass riders biking out beside her on the field, she didn't feel alone.
"It was a night full of love, a safe place," DeSimone said.
To donate to Denise's Dream Team and the Pan-Mass Challenge, go to www.pmc.org, click the "donate" link and enter Denise DeSimone's name.
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