Winnebago Kids Fight Back Against Cancer For Best Friend

A Winnebago child battling cancer and going through radiation found solidarity among some of her best friends.

Ashley Spielman shared photos and the story of young Ava Beck.

Spielman says:

Beck is an 8.5 year old from Winnebago that was recently diagnosed with high grade osteosarcoma on her left femur. There were also nodules found in her lungs as well. Every time I see Ava she has the biggest smile and it’s contagious.

This week at UW was long for Ava with ups and downs. For us, we received the results from her MRI/Ct, though still early within her treatment.. the scans showed Ava to have a “dark” spot now on her right femur, the nodules within her lungs had not shrunk yet, but appear slightly larger. Ava had a larger lymph Node that was picked up as well.

UW reached out to Memorial Sloan Kettering for advise. Ava’s tumor report will go in front of their tumor board along with UW’s tumor board.
TODAY: Ava had the home-health care nurse come to access her port.. and again it was blocked. Therefore, they decided to have Ava come back to UW tomorrow ..
If she is admitted she will receive another scan to check her right femur.

The other two girls are Elise Lange 8.5 from Winnebago and has been Ava’s best friend since preschool and Elise’s step sister is Adelyn Howald 10 from Winnebago.

Both girls wanted to shave their heads so Ava didn’t have to be alone. It’s a hard thing losing your hair and the braveness of all of these girls is amazing.

Osteosarcoma is the third most common cancer among teens and the long-term survival rate is "70- to 75%"  according to St. Jude Children's Hospital.

With friends like Elise and Adelyn we believe Ava has a great support system.

We're pulling for you Ava! You can help support Ava Beck by donating to her GoFundMe page.

Sweet Lenny is the brand manager of 97ZOK and Operations Manager for Townsquare Media Rockford. Catch him afternoons 3 to 7 on 97ZOK. Follow him on Twitter, Instagram and like his page on Facebook.