ASHLEY BEANE

Ashley's journey with leukemia began in September 2017 when her daughters brought home a run-of-the-mill virus from daycare. It spread throughout the whole family, and everyone got better within a few days except her. After multiple trips to urgent care and the emergency room over the course of a couple of weeks, she was diagnosed with AML. Once she was stabilized from the immediate effects of the virus, Ashley underwent a month-long inpatient course of induction chemotherapy, followed by two inpatient rounds of consolidation chemotherapy. At that point, the cancer was in remission, but the chemo had damaged her bone marrow beyond recovery and she needed a stem cell transplant. Ashley had an allogenic transplant from an unrelated donor in March 2018, and her condition has continued to improve since then. Ashley and her family participated in Light The Night in October 2018, where they first learned of the Big D Climb. Ashley decided on a whim to create a team, and recruited family, friends, and co-workers to join her and donate to the cause. Perhaps the greatest accomplishment of all was that 10 months post-transplant, Ashley made it to the top of Bank of America Tower with the rest of her team. Ashley is excited to participate in the Big D Climb for the second year in 2020 and hopes to surpass last year's fundraising efforts and raise even more money for LLS to invest in great research to cure blood cancers.  

INGRID

In 2016, Ingrid’s parents noticed petechiae on their two-year-old daughter’s legs. They took her to her pediatrician the very next morning, July 21, 2016, and had blood tests done. Ingrid’s doctor explained that it could be several things, but not to worry. At the end of the day while the family was picking up their four-year-old son at his summer program, they received a call from Ingrid’s doctor’s office. They were told to come back to the doctor’s office immediately and that they would need to go the hospital that night. Ingrid’s doctor told them the words no parent wants to hear: “your child has cancer”. Ingrid was admitted to Cook Children’s that night and had port placement surgery and started chemo the very next day. She was diagnosed with high-risk pre-b cell leukemia and remained in the hospital for almost a month. Ingrid had many long hospitalizations throughout treatment and spent lots of time isolated from her peers and outside world. Even while feeling yucky, Ingrid loved to play hide and go seek, open surprise toys and do Easter egg hunts around her hospital floor and clinic. Her family was blessed to have the strong support of their family, preschool and community. After spending almost half of her life fighting cancer, Ingrid completed treatment on November 29, 2018, and has continued to remain cancer free! Ingrid has enjoyed many firsts since being off of treatment. She started kindergarten this year and loves school. She has also been super excited to go to indoor playgrounds and Chuck E. Cheese for the first time. She still loves year-round Easter egg hunts and opening surprise toys. Ingrid’s favorite things are her teacher and new friends at school, playing on the playground, and getting to be a regular kid. Ingrid and her family are truly honored to participate in the Big D Climb in 2020, and look forward to helping LLS make a difference in the fight against cancer.