Ava’s Story

Ava was diagnosed with leukemia in 2017 when she was ten years old.  

She underwent four rounds of intensive chemotherapy and a bone marrow transplant. Throughout her treatment, Ava had to overcome many obstacles – weight loss, hair loss, fevers (which kept her in the hospital over Christmas) and seven months of IV antibiotics when the doctors discovered a fungus in her liver and lungs. With such a close-knit, big-hearted family, it was no surprise that her younger brother Cohen wanted to help his big sister get through it all, and ended up being Ava’s bone marrow donor.   

When Ava was given the news that her most heartfelt wish could come true it gave her something to look forward to and made her journey through treatments a little bit easier. Ava said, “after my bone marrow transplant I had to spend four weeks in total isolation, meaning I could only have one parent stay with me in a very small room that I was never allowed to leave, not even for the bathroom. Thinking about all of the different things my wish could include, really gave me something to look forward to and helped me push through a really emotionally and physically hard time. My family was separated for so long and having this wish really made up for all the time we had spent apart.”