Feature » By Lori K. Tate » Photos By Glenn Roberson
SILVER LININGS Make-A-Wish® Recipient Torie Costa Finds Strength From Cancer Diagnosis ighteen-year-old Torie Costa has long been a fan of everything style-related, including pageants. Every year, she looks forward to watching the Miss Universe Pageant with her mother, Marnae, and little sister Emme. For years, Costa fantasized about entering pageants, but a lack of confidence coupled with a lack of funds stopped her in her tracks. “I was never really fully confident that I could do well,” explains Costa, batting her large hazel eyes above her freckled cheeks. “I was like, ‘Oh, next year I’ll get fit [for a dress]. I’ll get this next year.’ I just never did anything with it.” It wasn’t until she was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer — Stage 4 Rhabdomyosarcoma, a rare cancer that affects approximately 300 people a year — that Costa learned to face her fears, entering in Miss North Carolina Teen USA in November 2013. As she walked across the High Point Theatre stage in a lavender sequin gown, she was the picture of beauty and grace. Although she didn’t win the crown, the Cornelius resident won in all the ways that matter most.
Forever Fearless
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Lacking confidence is no longer a problem for Costa. Ironically, her cancer diagnosis has given her the strength to fight for her dreams. Her diagnosis came after a shortness of breath sent her to the pediatrician the day after her junior year ended. She soon learned she had cancerous tumors on her diaphragm, pelvis and collarbone. One day she was daydreaming about summer parties with her friends, and the next she was fighting for her life. After staying at Hemby Children’s Hospital every other week for a year for chemotherapy and spending a month at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City for radiation, Costa has become fearless. These days, competing in a
pageant — or anything else for that matter — isn’t nearly as intimidating as it once was. “It’s interesting that when Torie pretty much had it all, the long brown hair, popularity and her health, she didn’t feel confident enough to compete in a pageant,” says her mother, Marnae. “It wasn’t until she lost her hair and gained this complete new sense of self that she gained the confidence.” Torie explains that when girls enter pageants, they are mainly judged by their looks, and the thought of a judge not liking your looks can be hard on a girl’s self-esteem. Competing after cancer treatment changed that for Costa, giving her insight that the other contestants couldn’t possibly have. “I didn’t think I was going to win because the girls there are like drop-dead gorgeous,” explains Costa, who won Miss Congeniality. “Me competing was just saying that even like this, I can do what you guys do — even in my situation.”
Moving On Costa’s situation is looking much brighter these days. She’s been cancer-free for six months, although she still does chemotherapy every Monday through a port and daily via oral medication. The goal is to get to the five-year cancer-free mark, as her type of cancer has a 30-percent survival rate. She’s taking classes at CPCC with the hopes of attending UNC Charlotte next year. In addition to competing in Miss North Carolina Teen USA, which was courtesy of Little Smiles, a nonprofit in Cornelius that helps kids escape the reality of unfortunate circumstances, Costa also won Lake Norman’s Next Top Model 2014 from TCW’s sister publication, Lake Norman CURRENTS Magazine. She also enjoyed a dream trip to New York City via Make-A-Wish®, which funds wishes for children who have life-threatening illnesses. Robin Smith-Salzman, owner and
marketing director of Lake Norman Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram, granted Costa’s wish, which included tickets to the Victoria’s Secret fashion show and a backstage tour. “It was so awesome. It was an experience I would have never had unless I somehow become famous, which there’s a good possibility,” Costa jokes. The trip was a once-in-a-lifetime experience, but it was the kindness behind the Wish — and the many other wonderful things that have happened to her since her diagnosis — that made a greater impact on Costa. She can’t count the number of fundraisers friends and family held for her. She won prom queen even though she couldn’t go to school her senior year, and Smith-Salzman still keeps in touch with her, even sending her flowers when she won Lake Norman’s Next Top Model. Costa is beyond grateful for what her cancer experience has taught her, and plans to one day start a nonprofit. Going through treatment and meeting so many other kids battling cancer has made her passionate about pediatric cancer awareness, a cause she vows to focus on for the rest of her life. “I’ve become such a better individual. I’m so much stronger in who I believe I am,” says Costa of the past two years. “I have so much faith in myself and in others, and I’ve become so courageous.” Her mother says her daughter’s diagnosis forced Torie to grow up overnight and realize what’s really important in life. “She has a maturity that many people never gain in a lifetime,” says Marnae. “She has this deep, sensitive, compassionate insight that people work a whole lifetime to develop. She has gained that before she was even 20 years old. If she’s like that now, just imagine what she will become.” [TCW]