Going three rounds against cancer

General Article

Nelson lab technician Allison Porter wages fight against cancer as Miss Washington

Lab tech, boxer, premed graduate and Miss Washington, Allison Porter will compete for Miss America on a platform of cancer prevention, treatment and funding.

By BRAD BROBERG

What do a lab coat, boxing gloves, violin and tiara have in common? They all belong to Allison Porter.

Porter fills her life with an unusual combination of pursuits — and delights in defying the stereotypes that accompany each. She's a research technician in Dr. Lee Nelson's lab at Fred Hutchinson, a boxer, musician and, oh yes, the reigning Miss Washington.

"It confuses people a lot," Porter said. "The reaction I appreciate most is when people ask how it all fits together."

Porter soon will be answering that question for the entire nation when she competes for the title of Miss America on Sept. 18. If Porter wins, the Harvard University graduate will receive a $50,000 scholarship that she will use to pursue a medical degree at the University of Washington. First, however, she would spend a year making appearances as Miss America and promoting her pageant platform: "Going three rounds in the fight against cancer: prevention, treatment and funding."

The scholarship money is just part of the reward for participating in the pageant, Porter said. "Because it's a competition of well-roundedness, every element of the competition improves me in some aspect of my life," she said.

Porter, 24, had planned to enroll in medical school this fall. However, after becoming Miss Seattle and then Miss Washington earlier this year, she deferred her enrollment until 2005 — after her potential Miss America reign would end. Porter applied for and landed a job with the Nelson lab in June of 2003. "We're studying how cells that are passed between the mother and fetus during pregnancy may relate to autoimmune diseases," Porter said. "I love the people I work with. They're incredibly intelligent and incredibly fun."

Nelson said Porter has been a great addition to the lab. Not only did she quickly master the physical tasks associated with her tech job, Nelson said she also acquired an intellectual understanding of the research and will be missed if she wins the pageant. "I'm still going to cheer for her, though," Nelson said. "This is a young woman with a big heart. She's really quite humble and quite caring."

At Harvard, Porter was a premedical student majoring in astronomy and astrophysics. After graduating cum laude, she spent a year working as a volunteer in an orphanage in India and with a mobile-medical team in the mountains of Ecuador. In both cases, Porter sought to gain experience caring for people in preparation for becoming a family-practice physician.

Now, her stint in Nelson's lab is giving her a greater appreciation for the research side of medicine. "A couple of doctors in my lab see patients and conduct research," Porter said. "Meeting them has made me consider the possibility of incorporating that into my own career."

Besides influencing her career path, Porter believes her experience at Fred Hutchinson will pay dividends at the Miss America competition. "Fifty percent of the judging is based on an interview in which they ask you about your core interests and about current events related to your platform," Porter said.

Porter, the 2004 winner of the Frank Kirk Award for Excellence in Advocacy from the American Cancer Society (ACS), already is busy promoting her platform. Her activities include lobbying the state and federal government, leading an ACS Relay for Life team and serving as a patient/family volunteer with the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance.

"She's truly dedicated to her cancer-prevention platform," Nelson said. "If she wins the pageant, she'll have a big stage to be heard from and she'll do a great job."

Porter chose cancer prevention, treatment and funding as her platform for several reasons. "My Aunt Crystal has suffered with ovarian cancer for almost 10 years now and I have seen the havoc it has caused in her life and that of my family members," Porter said.

In addition, she said, it relates to her career path and is universally relevant. "No matter where I go, who I speak to, cancer will have touched their lives in some way," she said.

For the talent portion of the competition, Porter will perform Felix Mendelssohn's "Concerto In E Minor" on the violin, an instrument she began playing as a young girl, set aside during college, then picked up again in preparation for the pageant.

If Porter's talent and platform don't separate her from the other Miss America contestants, then her approach to staying fit certainly will. Porter is a boxer. She took up the sport six years ago at Harvard. A member of the junior varsity soccer team, she was looking for a way to stay in shape for soccer during the off season and became hooked on fighting in the ring.

"It's an enormous challenge and that's what makes it a ton of fun," Porter said. "I love competing. I don't care if I win or lose. It's just the excitement of being in the ring. A fighter needs to focus completely to do well. One wrong move, one split second out of focus, can be drastic. For a total of six minutes, we are completely at the mercy of our mental quickness and physical strength and endurance. It is exhilarating."

Porter, the Tacoma Golden Gloves champ, is 5-5 in competition after losing her most recent bout in last month's Women's National Boxing Championships in Spokane. She has continued training — and risking an ugly cut or a bruise — even as the pageant approaches.

"I'm not concerned too much," she said. "We're very careful about safety, especially in practice. In competition, I just figure if I keep my hands up, my nose will stay on straight."

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