Ashen is
Blood Cancer United

My son, Ashen graduated from high school this year, but he was diagnosed with leukemia back in July 2015. He was devastated and depressed when he was told of his life threatening illness. Here is his story.

Ashen has always been a very active kid. He played in state tennis tournaments right up until the week before he was diagnosed. He was the number one ranked player on his varsity tennis team, and was very upset when he had to stop playing. Doctors told him he would not be able to play for two years, but he was determined to prove them wrong. After four weeks at the Dell Children's Hospital, he came back home and went to the tennis court the same day.

By the first week of September, he started going to school tennis classes and got approval to represent the school team. To everyone's surprise, he won the most number of games for the school--all while going for chemotherapy seven days a week. By January 2016, he was again ranked as the number one player on the team.

Additionally, he won the Best Singles Player, Best Doubles Player and the Most Valuable Payer awards at the 2016 tennis banquet. He was also awarded the All District Academic award. His determination and courage changed our way of looking at his situation and made us all think positively. Ashen is heading off to college in August 2016!