Adorable Ava from Pickering is a feature girl on the 2024 charity calendar featuring 12 amazing kids affected by cancer from around Ontario.
The calendar, published by Ontario Parents Advocating for Children with Cancer (OPACC), features stories told by their parents in their own words. Each month also includes a childhood cancer awareness fact to help raise awareness.
“This is Ava, she is a 7-year-old creative, funny, and outgoing kid,” writes Ava’s mother Amy.
As a baby Ava was happy, sweet and gentle with everyone. It was the summer of August 2017, and Ava was just one-and-a-half years old when we noticed that she had vaginal bleeding in her diaper. An ultrasound found a germ cell tumor located in her vagina, she recalls.
“As new parents, we were shocked to hear the diagnosis of cancer and it caused us a lot of anxiety on how to deal with her treatment. We were scared and nervous about her future, and had no idea on where to go for support. The wonderful doctors and staff at SickKids Hospital took good care of us. They were so kind, supportive, and optimistic of her progress,” says Amy.
We are also grateful to OPACC’s Parent Liaison program that supported and connected us with community resources so we did not feel alone, she added.
The mother said after two rounds of chemotherapy, the tumor shrunk to a size that can be removed by surgery. Today Ava is cancer-free, still the happy and outgoing kid who has dreams of becoming an art teacher, says Amy.
The calendar is available for sale on OPACC website at www.opacc.org/shop for $15 each (with a discount for orders of 3+). The proceeds will go towards free programs and services for childhood cancer families.
