Aya spent her 8th birthday in the hospital, recovering from brain surgery to remove a tumor. She had just been diagnosed with brain cancer.
What followed was a nightmare: surgery that left her unable to find her balance, then 30 days of radiation and a year of chemo. She couldn't eat and had a feeding tube. She lost her hair multiple times. Treatment made her feel worse before it made her better.
And yet, with the extraordinary care of the doctors, nurses, and staff at Seattle Children's, she came out the other side still herself: giggling, stubborn, kind, obsessed with cats and anime.
Two years after end of treatment, she can walk, run, and ride a bike. She's back in school and has a bright future ahead. But the treatments that kept her here will leave their mark with challenges we already know about, and ones we don't yet.
We run for her, and for every kid who deserves better options and better futures — made possible by research right here at Seattle Children's.
