Gift Stories

Eight-year-old Makala has a lot of experience at something no one should have to go through. She was only four years old when she was first diagnosed with leukemia, which means that she has been battling the disease half her life. She has logged more hospital hours than anyone could count. No child should know how…

About a year and a half ago, when Emmalee was in sixth grade, the normally bubbly girl was feeling anything but. She started looking pale and felt so tired that she wanted to go straight to bed after school. It only took one blood draw to diagnosis the problem: leukemia. Within a month, her hair was…

Twelve-year-old Ruby has been obsessed with dancing ever since she was three years old. Her mother enrolled her in ballet class and she’s never looked back! Since then, she has added to her repertoire pretty much every kind of dancing you can imagine, including jazz, tap, modern, theatrical and lyrical. So when Ruby began having…

Looking at the sweet face of this five year old, you’d never guess what she’s been through. Diagnosed with leukemia more than two years ago, here’s a partial recap of the procedures she’s had to endure: 52 rounds of chemo, 662 days of oral chemo, 24 chemo shots at home, and 24 spinal taps. Through it all, she lost…

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…