Kids with Cancer

Meet Abby

by St. Baldrick's Foundation
January 5, 2017

Abby was first diagnosed with Ph+ ALL, a rare and aggressive type of leukemia, in February 2011. Soon, Abby was on a unique combination chemotherapy treatment available to her because of St. Baldrick’s-funded research.

2017 Ambassador Abby

And it worked. Abby powered through 32 months of treatment, and then she enjoyed 11 months of just being a kid — having sleepovers, playing soccer, and running as fast as her legs could carry her.

Then she relapsed.

Abby and her parents

After a bone marrow transplant in January 2015, Abby was again cancer free, but she developed severe graft-versus-host disease and other complications. This time, doctors didn’t expect her to survive.

abby painting rainbow

But Abby just kept on trucking.

abby and sisters

She went back to school part time. She walked down the aisle and tossed petals as a flower girl in a friend’s wedding. She even flew to Italy with her family to see the Leaning Tower of Pisa, the Colosseum, and to marvel at the gondolas in Venice, which she’d read about in one of her books.

abby harry potter pikachu

“It’s pretty incredible,” said her mom, Patty. “People call a lot of things miracles. But even the doctors who never use that word use it for Abby, too.”

abby and her family

With tenacity and heart, Abby has made a miraculous turnaround, wowing everyone around her and doing what she does best — defying the odds.

Abby is one of five St. Baldrick’s Foundation 2017 Ambassadors, representing the thousands of kids touched by cancer each year.

Meet the next Ambassador — Benny

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