Diya is a vibrant 6 year old who is in the first grade. She is enjoying school and learning more and more every day. She is a sweet & sassy girl who loves barbies, princesses, coloring, playing outside, & going to the beach. Her new passions are playing soccer and taking Tae Kwon Do. She hopes to follow in her brother's foot steps in achieving a black belt. She also enjoys playing Star Wars & Legos with her 2 brothers. Her favorite foods include hamburgers & pizza.
Diya was diagnosed at age 3 with AML, and endured 3 rounds of chemotherapy. Her older brother, Jai, 5 at the time, was a 100% match to be her bone marrow donor. She had a bone marrow transplant on February 4, 2010, and is in complete remission. Her strong will, determination, strength, and courage gave us, her parents, the courage to fight this with her every day.
On December 20, 2009, I asked her if I could shave her head, since it had fallen out in patches. She and I made a big deal about it, saying it was going to be a "new haircut." She agreed and I did it. It was cleansing in a sense for us, but she amazed me that day with her strength and excitement! We felt if she could do this, so could we. She sailed through the treatments with a smile. She was NOT going to let this thing beat her, she was going to beat it!
Here we are, 3 years later after her transplant, and she is doing GREAT! Still no signs of leukemia and all her cells are 100% donor cells!!!
