Our dear mother, Luann Kennington has been battling a very rare soft tissue cancer called Leiomyosarcoma (LMS) for the past 5 years. Soft tissue cancers account for less than 1% of all cancers, and LMS accounts for only 5% – 10% of those.
Before we get into all the heavy stuff, we would like to tell you a little about our mom.
On February 8, 2016 our youngest daughter Samantha was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) after a few different symptoms all started to add up. We had taken her to Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles and that’s when our lives were turned upside down. We honestly expected them to tell us that she had mono.
I have made a commitment to myself and to my children that nothing will stop me from earning a degree that will ultimately lead me to become a Licensed Clinical Social Worker. As a Licensed Clinical Social Worker, I will be in a position to end our cycle of poverty and bring financial stability to our lives.
Water Polo for Cancer Warriors
El Dorado VS. Fullerton High School
Water Polo for Cancer Warriors is a two game event, Varsity and Junior Varsity, in an effort to help Stripes of a Warrior raise money to financially help Breast cancer patients and their families.
In December of 2015, Tara and I were introduced to a sweet, little, six year old. Her name was Katherine and she was diagnosed with DIPG (brain tumor). Tara and I felt so many emotions and thought so many things as we sat down to put Katherine’s story on our website as our WARRIOR.
My name is Ashlea Medina and being in my 20’s and having breast cancer never crossed my mind. Yes, I was aware that as I got older the risk went up, but as far as being that young, I didn’t really worry much about it. I have always been conscious of my health.
One of my childhood heroes was Rocky Balboa and in his most recent movie, Creed, he said:
“You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain’t about how hard you hit. It’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward; how much you can take and keep moving forward.
The sweet, caring, funny, awesome Nainoa was diagnosed with stage 4 Ewing Sarcoma. Nainoa had been suffering from extreme back pain a month prior to being diagnosed and lost the feeling in his legs.
I was diagnosed in February of 2011 with a very rare type of renal cell cancer called Hereditary leiomyoma renal cell carcinoma. It is so very rare that I am one of 250 people that they know of in the world. I would not be here today if it wasn’t for God who has been by my side everyday.
Who would of thought by starting this blog and sharing the stories of these WARRIORS that it would inspire us to help so many others. Week after week we read so many stories. Our hearts cry for so many people. Each story we come across, we want to do more and more.