THE ASHLYN BRYSIAK FAMILY

FTB - We are the Brysiak Family. Our daughter Ashlyn was diagnosed with Leukemia at the age of 8 in June 2016.

In the spring of 2016, while Ashlyn was in the heart of the season playing her favorite sport, soccer, she began experiencing severe leg pain; exhibiting signs of depression; and feeling constantly exhausted. The pain got progressively worse, to the point where Ashlyn was unable to walk and was on crutches. We took her to the an orthopedic doctor several times who advised that she had a strained hip flexor. After weeks of the symptoms not getting any better, we took her for blood work -- we thought maybe she had Lyme Disease. However, at that time, everything came back ok. There was nothing abnormal. We were perplexed and decided to have an MRI done on her hip. We thought, maybe they are missing something. What was suppose to be a 20 minute appointment turned into an hour-and-a-half. A day later we received the news that there was a major issue with Ashlyn's bone marrow.

Within 24-hours of receiving the results, Ashlyn was admitted onto the oncology floor at Hershey's Children's Hospital. We immediately began to realize that we would soon be coming to grips with a life-altering diagnosis. The doctors re-ran her blood work and everything began to indicate cancer; this was only one week from when her blood had been taken last and appeared normal. We were taken into a room with the doctors and were told something that no parent ever expects to hear: "Your child has Leukemia." From that moment on, we knew we had the fight of our lives ahead of us. We told Ashlyn, and her immediate reaction to the news became the driving theme behind our family's fight: "Ok, what do I have to do to beat this?"

Ashlyn has shown us all how to have strength, courage and a winning attitude throughout this journey. We have experienced many ups and down and so many procedures that we have lost count at this point. But through it all, she has remained positive and committed to beating cancer. Since day one, we have wanted to bring an awareness to people about childhood cancer. We, especially Ashlyn, wanted people to face this horrible disease head on. She wanted people to know that, yes, a child can be diagnosed with cancer and we as a society need to face it -- all of it.

Ashlyn was chosen to be the 2017 Girl of the Year for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. She has attended events and shared her journey with anyone who wanted to hear. The fundraising campaign raised nearly a million dollars for research. Our family is unbelievably proud that our little girl was a driving force in this effort. Ashlyn is something special. She has taught us as parents how to be strong. You can learn a lot from your kids; we certainly have.

Along with Ashlyn, we also have a son, Evan, who was three at the time of her diagnosis. He understands all too well about Leukemia. He often asked about "Sissy's" medi-port or asks why does "Sissy" need to go to the hospital so much. Cancer has forever changed his life as well, but we tried very hard to provide structure and a sense of normalcy for him. Evan has energy for days, and always has. He has kept many members from Ohana busy when we get together.

We are honored to be a part of the Ohana family. Since day one, Ohana has truly made us feel like family. More importantly, the students driving the organization have taken a vested interest in not only bringing the same awareness to childhood cancer that we have embraced, but also have made a commitment to defeating it. As a family that will forever be a "pediatric cancer family," that alone is worthy of a thousand lifetimes of thanks. We are so excited to be able to attend THON this upcoming year. Ashlyn can't wait to sport her orange and blue attire and help her "family" dance the days away For The Kids.

August 3 2022 marks Ashlyn’s fourth year being cancer free, and Ohana has been so proud to be a part of her journey. We love getting to spend time with the family, and seeing all the craziness of Evan unfold during video chats with the club.

You can follow Ashlyn's journey through her Facebook page, All in For Ashlyn!