Children's Cancer Community Courageous Kid - Alison Levie

Child: Alison Levie Parents: Cheryl and Jim From: Sebastopol, CA, USA Diagnosed with: Ganglioneuroblastoma

Our Story -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I am Ali Levie. When I was eight years I was on vacation with my family in Utah. I had a flu virus with fever and vomiting and was pretty ill so my parents took me to emergency at the pediatric university hospital in Salt Lake City. My mom is an emergency room RN and usually would have refused a chest xray for me because of the radiation (and I never had pneumonia or asthma). This one time, for some reason, my mom said they could go ahead and take an xray of my chest. The emergency room doctors told me I was going to be fine, that my I did not have pneumonia, and gave me some fluids and sent me back to my hotel. Later that night we got a call from the x-ray department that the radiologist saw a "shadow on my x-ray" and asked us to return the next morning for more films. When we came back the next day (a Sunday) the radiologist was waiting for us and immediately took us in for more exams. They found a baseball size tumor in my chest! This had to be the scariest day of my life! We were now on a long journey, and I was diagnosed with what I call the "best of the worst" ganglioneuroblastoma. I actually had my fourth grade teacher put this word on one of our weekly extra credit spelling lists! It is one word I wish I never knew. No one needs the details of the next year and a half......all you need to know is that the ONLY warning sign I had was I dropped out of gymnastics about eighteen months prior to my diagnosis because a skill called back walk-overs caused my excruciating pain in my mid back. I was in a pre-competitive accelerated gymnastics group and all the skills had to be completed to keep moving up the levels. Nothing hurt when I did anything else, in fact I was like a skinny little gumby, and I had no other limitations or symptoms. My road to recovery has been dotted with many emotional components including post traumatic stress disorder and panic attacks. I am now 18, just finished my first year of college, won the title of Miss American Teen Northern California last year, and am finally advocating for childhood cancer awareness. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The SCCF was with me my entire journey. We were connected after my surgery and we were some of the first members. Having this type of group to be a part of benefited my family in many ways. I am forever grateful to such a caring, grassroots, local organization. Marty Close is dedicated and does a fantastic job managing and fundraising. I am willing to speak with anyone about my journey if it helps relieve the pain and fear. I have a beautiful life ahead and this is ALL that matters! This is MY story. Ali

Sonoma Children's Cancer Foundation P.O. Box 2246 Sonoma, CA 95476-2246 Toll free: 1-866-402-HOPE(4673) marty@hopeforcancerkids.net

If you have suggestions to improve our website, please contact our webmaster: webmaster@hopeforcancerkids.net