One of Anya’s favorite things to do was seeing Nana Joan and Pap Bob in Florida and going to the beach. When Anya was little, she loved chasing sea gulls. She’d giggle and run around with her beautiful, dark, long ponytail flipping around.  Sand digging was always fun and having multiple sand shakers helped find shells and shark teeth, which Nana loved to do.  As Anya got older, she continued to create castles and find shells, which we hold onto dearly in a mason jar.  Anya loved to travel. We started traveling with Anya when she was small and she learned quickly to not kick the seats in front of her. She watched movies with mom, and colored while eating snacks. She enjoyed looking out the window during take-off, and seeing the clouds and sunshine high above. One of our favorite places was Cabo San Lucas. We were able to also go one year with Uncle Dave and Aunt Michele and enjoyed the pools and painting ceramics.

When not traveling, and it was summertime, Anya loved to go to amusement parks with friends. Her dear friend was her travel buddy and we’d spend long days roaming amusement parks wearing out dad. Anya also loved to play softball and at that time we had no idea how important it would be to have met so many loving, caring people who would and still are, very special to us.  Anya also danced and during that timeframe, at age nine, Anya’s leg started to hurt. The pain was intermittent but dad, always took Anya to the doctor. Initially it was thought she had growing pains.

After Anya continued to complain of leg pain in the middle of the night, we asked for further tests and Anya took a break from softball and dance as she had reached a point it was too uncomfortable. We were eventually told that Anya had Ewing sarcoma in her right femur. We were devastated. You never forget the moment – the clothes you had on, the smell of the room, how Anya then appeared to be so small – the room spins.

After understanding more about the disease and required protocol, Anya had to prepare for chemotherapy.  That meant having her long hair cut because as chemotherapy takes hold, and hair loss begins, it’s harder to manage both physically, though more important emotionally.  We’re grateful to Tina’s Hair Design for helping Anya with her hair cut.

Anya started chemotherapy shortly after being diagnosed. She needed to have the tumor removed but it had to shrink first to get things under control. After six rounds of chemotherapy, fevers and other trauma, Anya had an operation to remove the tumor and replace with a prosthetic.  That same month, December 2014, Anya also needed to have another operation to biopsy her lung. It was unclear if the cancer had spread to her lungs.  Anya received her prosthetic and lung biopsy results were promising. Our strong and brave little girl had been through a lot at that point.  After some initial healing, Anya still needed eight more rounds of chemotherapy to finish the protocol.

It was a long, painful, and emotional eight months. In May 2015, Anya received her last chemotherapy and was considered in remission. This news was the best Mother’s Day gift ever.  We were ecstatic.  Anya spent her remaining time in the hospital getting wonderful well wishes from the awesome nurses, life counselors and doctors. She even had special visitors she met through Connecting Champions – thank you Sidney Kushner, Founder and Executive Director.

We immediately starting planning some travel.   After visiting family in San Diego, zoos, and other parks, we took things a little slower.  While Anya was in remission, her prosthetic was never comfortable and she had tremendous leg cramps to the point she required a cane and eventually a wheelchair. Anya tried her best though and during her remission, for Christmas 2015, she met her furry babies Champagne “Champ” and Brandy, her King Charles Cavaliers.  They were and are the best dogs ever as they loved to be with Anya. They laid with Anya especially during her bad leg days.  Anya enjoyed dressing them up and having their company.

Almost a year later, in May 2016, the cancer came back.

Ewing sarcoma is aggressive, especially with recurrence.  Please enjoy the photos of Anya. Such a beautiful, fun loving daughter, granddaughter, cousin, niece, friend.