Gift Stories

All of our Team Summer kids have been through a lot in their battles with cancer. But you’d be hard-pressed to find any kid who has been through as much as 19-year-old Ansley. She’s been at this cancer thing since she was diagnosed with neuroblastoma when she was just two years old…and she has been…

Eli has always wanted to be on the water. When he was younger, his dad took him out. As he got older, he ventured out on his own with friends. Most teenagers are obsessed with high speeds. But not Eli, although he’s very good on a jet ski. He prefers the calmer, quieter ride of…

Up until July of 2014, Olivia’s life was pretty normal. The 10-year-old loved to play outside and swim in the neighborhood pool with her friends. Then she discovered a mysterious lump under her right arm. Doctors removed it surgically, and tests showed it was cancer. After that, everything got crazy. Olivia had to drop out of…

More than anything, high-school senior Alyssia wanted to go to her prom. And she knew just the dress she wanted to wear – a gorgeous, long, white-and-gold designer dress by Tarik Ediz. She had been staring at it through a computer screen for more than a year, trying to save up for it. And if…

Four-year-old Grant is what you call a real trooper! For almost two years, he’s been poked and prodded by more doctors and nurses than his parents care to count. He’s been battling neuroblastoma ever since a softball-size tumor was found on his adrenal gland back in June 2014. Team Summer kid Aliyah met Grant in the…

Remember this face?? It’s Maylee! Team Summer kid Alyssa made her a rabbit at Alyssa’s Team Summer Build-a-Bear party! And guess what? Maylee had already been selected by another Team Summer kid to get a Team Summer gift, and this is the story about that gift! Maylee is only four years old, but she’s already…

Eleven-year-old Alyssa is one of those kids who just sparkles! She has had a positive attitude and big heart for as long as her family can remember. And she was always really healthy…until last September when she started having some weird symptoms…like a backache and nausea. Doctors thought it was just a bad virus. But by…

Seven-year-old Chandler is a sports guy. From a young age, he took to football and baseball like a champ. His coaches said he showed great promise. But all that changed last February. Chandler started getting tired. Really tired. He’d come home from school and fall asleep on the couch. And his leg hurt. Then some odd…

2015 was a year of shocking news for 15-year-old Aliyah. First, the pain in her knee she thought was a sprain turned out to be cancer – osteosarcoma. Then the day she had her port surgically implanted so that she could start chemo, her grandfather died unexpectedly. Then, when doctors tried to remove her tumor…

Fourteen-year-old Lacey has always been physically active. A cheerleader and a gymnast, her favorite hobby is wakeboarding. Now if you don’t know what that is, don’t feel bad; we didn’t either at first. A wakeboard is like a snowboard, only for water. Up until last May, Lacey’s biggest challenge was learning how to do a…