Citizen of the Week: Megan Mulvey Turns Survival Into Hope

When Megan Mulvey survived acute lymphoblastic leukemia, she initially viewed remission as a finish line. After months of chemotherapy, radiation, and a bone marrow transplant, she was ready to return to her family, career, and the life cancer had interrupted.

But the strength she found through CrossFit — and the support she received during treatment — eventually gave Mulvey a new purpose. She founded Box of Hope, a nonprofit that brings the CrossFit community together to support families facing cancer.

“I was the one who wanted to get past the cancer and never hear the word again,” Mulvey said. “Then one day I woke up, and I just knew God was telling me, ‘You need to do something.’”

The Peachtree City resident had been doing CrossFit for about a year and a half when she was diagnosed in October 2023. What first appeared to be a broken blood vessel beneath her right eye continued to grow, eventually leading doctors to perform a biopsy.

The growth was a tumor connected to leukemia. Mulvey said she had additional tumors around her heart, lungs, and chest, though the cancer had not reached her central nervous system or organs.

Mulvey underwent 51 rounds of chemotherapy and six rounds of total-body radiation. She entered remission in March 2024 and received a bone marrow transplant the following month.

The donor was a 19-year-old woman in Germany.

Mulvey said doctors found 14 potential donors who were considered complete matches, something she was told was highly unusual. The German donor was selected as the strongest match.

The transplant process was more difficult than chemotherapy, Mulvey said. Her blood counts dropped, she lost her hair, and she spent weeks isolated in the hospital while her immune system rebuilt itself.

“It was literally hell on earth,” she said. “I couldn’t be around people for 100 days while your body is building everything back. It was terrible.”

CrossFit had prepared her physically and mentally for the treatment, she said. Her physician told her that the conditioning she developed before her diagnosis helped her withstand an intensive chemotherapy regimen generally used for younger patients.

“CrossFit is one of the main reasons that I kept my sanity and was able to fight like I was,” Mulvey said. “It trained me for it.”

That experience eventually inspired Box of Hope.

In CrossFit terminology, a gym is often called a “box,” a reference to the warehouse-style spaces where many CrossFit athletes train. The “RX” in the nonprofit’s social media name, BoxofHopeRX, is also a CrossFit term for completing a workout as prescribed.

Mulvey originally created the organization to help CrossFit athletes and their family members who were facing cancer. Its mission has since expanded, with a growing emphasis on supporting local families affected by pediatric cancer.

One of the first families Box of Hope assisted was the family of Mia Pena, whose daughter, Rosalie, was diagnosed with diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma, commonly called DIPG. The Citizen wrote about Rosalie’s story this week. 

Pena, a CrossFit coach at Base Camp CrossFit in Fayetteville, contacted Mulvey after learning about the nonprofit. Box of Hope organized a workout fundraiser for the family in September 2025, raising enough money to cover the family’s mortgage and car payment for the following month.

Rosalie died April 17, 2026. Box of Hope later held another event to help her family with expenses following her death.

“Money doesn’t fix any of that,” Mulvey said. “But if we can help with anything — the bills you had to pay to bury your own daughter — I just want to help some way.”

Mulvey said the events have demonstrated what can happen when CrossFit athletes, businesses, vendors, and community members work together.

“This last one, the community came through so much,” she said. “It was really cool to see everybody support each other.”

Box of Hope has also delivered care packages to nurses on Emory University Hospital’s bone marrow transplant floor. Mulvey coordinated the effort with a nurse who helped care for her during her own extended hospital stays.

“It was just a way to give back,” she said.

Mulvey balances the nonprofit with a full-time career as a mortgage lender with Southeast Mortgage. She has worked in the industry for 10 years and works from home and from an office in Peachtree City.

She is also married and the mother of two children, ages 5 and 7.

For now, Mulvey handles much of Box of Hope’s work herself. Her next goal is to build a larger board, involve more volunteers, and expand the organization’s ability to support families beyond the immediate community.

“I want to grow it to the next level,” she said. “It’s just been me doing everything on top of my own career and being a mom. I want to get people involved so I can help more people.”

Mulvey once hoped cancer would become part of her past. Instead, she has chosen to remain close to families living through some of their hardest days.

“I never wanted to hear the word again,” she said. “But here I am in the middle of it.”

Information about Box of Hope is available at BoxofHopeRX.org and through BoxofHopeRX on Facebook and Instagram.