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Marblehead: Sailor mom battles on after son's diagnosis

By Jean DePlacido
Correspondent
Published: February 18, 2008

MARBLEHEAD — Competitive sailor Maureen McKinnon-Tucker was in Florida last month training for the summer Paralympic Games in Beijing when she found herself facing a difficult decision.

Back at home, her 2-year-old son, Trent, was diagnosed with a cancerous brain tumor. He had been brought to Salem Children's Hospital by his grandparents with what looked like a stomach bug and suddenly stopped breathing. He was rushed to Boston, where doctors removed the tumor.

McKinnon-Tucker had to decide whether to continue her quest for a U.S. title with partner Nick Scandone of California, or bow out of the Paralympic Games, held once every four years, to stay home and care for her sick son.

She and her husband, Dan Tucker, weighed the options before she decided to press on.

"I feel I cannot quit, because if I do, Nick misses his chance," she said. Her sailing partner has ALS and will die in the next two years. "If I do, I give in to cancer. If I do, I wouldn't be true to who I am. If I do, the U.S. loses their shot at easy gold."

The Marblehead mother of two has faced adversity before.

A fall off a seawall several years ago left her paralyzed, but she has battled back to become a top female sailor. She and Scandone won the U.S. Disabled Sailing Trials last October to earn the right to represent their country in September.

They were in Miami for the three-day Alex Cavilgia Bluewater Classic Regatta and won four out of five races. They were then scheduled to undergo a weeklong training session when McKinnon-Tucker got word her son had been hospitalized and immediately flew home to be by his side.

"If for whatever reason Trent takes a terrible turn for the worse — and he will feel pretty sick from the chemotherapy every three weeks — I won't go to any training or regattas," she said. "He is in the best hands in the world for pediatric cancer."

McKinnon-Tucker will represent the United States in the Skud-18 class, a two-person Olympic class 18-foot boat. She has been sailing competitively for the past six years.

"So many people are offering to help out, which takes a huge amount of pressure off," she said. "I'm going to get through this — pretty scarred, but stronger, wiser and a believer in miracles."

McKinnon-Tucker returned to Florida to finish training and complete her racing obligations. She and Scandone got a big confidence boost after dominating the Rolex Miami Olympic Classes Regatta, taking first place in seven of the 10 races along with two seconds and a third against many of the international competitors they will face in Beijing.

Tucker has started chemotherapy at Mass General. The family received very good news initially when cerebral spinal fluid from the lumbar puncture was cancer free, which means it had not spread to his spine.

"There may be more cancer on his pituitary, but this kind responds well to chemotherapy and later radiation," McKinnon-Tucker said.

"The next few months will be arduous for all of us — Nick, my daughter Dana, Dan, me and mostly for Trent. My husband and I feel this may be the toughest few months of our lives, but we have faced this type of stuff with my paralysis and will fight this, too."

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