If I weren't crying, I might be able to come up with a decent title for this story

[The Straight Story]

Ashley's still swinging: 'The cancer doesn't have me' (yeah, that is the title, it just does not do it justice and I can't think of one that does.)


Some nights, Bill Aven walks into his daughter's bedroom to watch her sleep, just like he did when she was a baby.

Some days, he walks to the end of the road outside of his Lynnwood home and cries.

His little girl has terminal cancer.

Last spring Ashley Aven was a typical teenager who hung out with her friends and played softball at Meadowdale High. Other than chronic fatigue, she showed no signs of what she's battling today -- acute myeloid leukemia, a rare and aggressive disease.

According to the American Cancer Society, AML starts in cells that would normally turn into white blood cells. It originates in the bone marrow and quickly moves into the blood. AML is a genetic mutation. Its cause is unknown.

Bill and his wife, Tamara, and Ashley's pediatrician simply thought her exhaustion was caused by a persistent case of the flu or burnout from softball or the end of the school year.

"You don't think of going to the doctor and asking if your daughter can be tested for leukemia," Tamara said.

On July 8, the Avens took their daughter to Children's Hospital. Ashley had a temperature of 104, but she felt healthy enough to walk past the wheelchair that greeted her at the front door.

"Dad, why are we here?" she asked. "I have a fever."

http://www.seattlepi.com/moore/415047_moore05.html?source=mypi

So much more at link.



SUPPORT ASHLEY K. AVEN

A DAY OF PHOTOGRAPHY: Featuring sessions with Shon Crewe Children’s Photography. Visit it at www.shoncrewephoto.com

WHEN: Saturday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Hawaiian music and pu pus served from noon to 3.

WHERE: Urban Lights Studios, 8537 Greenwood Ave. N., Seattle.

DONATION: $150. Includes half-hour studio session, five edited/retouched final images, online gallery with private URL for viewing and sharing final images, CD with high-resolution copies of final images.

CONTACT: For session appointments or more information, Shon Crewe at 206-696-6272 or [email protected].

IF YOU CAN’T MAKE IT: Donate to the Ashley K. Aven Foundation at any Wells Fargo bank or through www.paypal.com/sendmoney Specify [email protected].

FOR UPDATES: On Ashley’s status, visit www.caringbridge.org/visit/ashleykealohaaven.

[ZombieHorde]

1. Recommended. nt

[Berry Cool]

2. Life is so damn unfair to people sometimes.

I'm praying for Ashley, even if her case seems hopeless.