Name: Asia
Diagnosis: acute lymphoblastic leukemia
Asia has always been the type of child who doesn't focus on the future. Instead, she relishes each day as it comes. Like most little girls, she loves to color and play with her dolls. But when she was just 7 years old, Asia began developing a set of alarming symptoms that had her family worried whether she'd have a future at all.
Asia's nose began to bleed, followed by leg pain and fevers. Then, she lost her appetite. As the number of symptoms grew, her mother, Ramona, began to suspect something was very wrong. A trip to the local children's hospital provided the worried family with a diagnosis, but no relief: Asia suffered from acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), the most common type of childhood cancer. As soon as the diagnosis was made, Asia's doctors referred her to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.
Asia immediately started a two-and-a-half-year treatment protocol for ALL. She comes to St. Jude once a week for chemotherapy and is expected to finish her treatment in early 2009. Although Asia's family was overwhelmed with her diagnosis, they were relieved to learn that the survival rate for ALL is high. When St. Jude opened in 1962, the survival rate was 4 percent. Today, it is 94 percent. "Initially I was in shock," Ramona said of learning Asia's diagnosis. "But now I don’t worry quite so much, I don’t shed quite so many tears."
St. Jude has provided the family with peace. "From the day we arrived, it felt like home," Ramona said. She is very grateful for the hospital's generous supporters, whose donations help provide her daughter's treatment and care, as well as housing, transportation and food. Not having to worry about such things has been a huge relief for the family.
Much to her family's delight, Asia continues to thrive. She is in third grade and loves to sing and dance. "It's been a wonderful experience," Ramona said. "We've never lost hope." For Asia, a bright-eyed girl who loves to live for today, St. Jude is helping to ensure her future.
April 2008
