Hello! My name is Ashley Burnette. I am 9 years old and I live in Raleigh, NC. I live with my mom, Nicole Burnette, my dad, Hunter Burnette and my older sister, Olivia Burnette. I play two sports right now…..I run with Girls on The Run and I’m learning how to play basketball. Some things I like are reading and arts & crafts and I LOVE the band One Direction!!
I’m in the fourth grade and I love my teacher. I sound like a regular kid, don’t I? Well on August 27th, 2010, I got diagnosed with Stage 4 Neuroblastoma. I don’t sound like a normal kid anymore now do I? My parents were shocked. They actually waited a few weeks to tell me I had cancer. But luckily there were so many fun activities to do at the hospital that I actually liked being there and never wanted to go home!! I have been through many things. The trial I did first had six rounds of chemotherapy.
After that, I still had cancer. Then I tried a bone marrow transplant, where I got my own stem-cells. After that, I still had cancer and the doctors even found evidence of Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma that I had to start fighting!
Next I tried radiation. And that didn’t work. I STILL HAD CANCER!! But finally after going through two rounds of MIBG Therapy and then antibodies, I FINALLY got the news that I was CANCER FREE!!!!!!! YAY!!!!
Right now I am on a experimental trial where I take three pills in the morning and three pills at night called DFMO. The hope is that if I take these pills everyday I will stay cancer free. It may sound like a lot, but trust me, it’s MUCH better than many other trials. Plus I think it is the closest thing to a cure right now! I can just be a regular kid and not worry as much about my cancer coming back! And I feel great and have no side effects!!!! Can’t beat that!!
My mom has told me that the donations given to the Beat NB Cancer Foundation last year helped to make the DFMO trial possible. I want to thank you for donating because you’re helping kids just like me beat cancer. And that’s an awesome thing to do!
The date of Cure Me I’m Irish this year is March 9th in Randolph, Massachusetts. I won’t be able to be there, because as I said, I live in Raleigh, NC, but I hope you live close enough to go!
Thank you for letting me tell my story to you and thank you Beat NB Cancer Foundation!!!! Bye!!!!!
Love – Ashley Burnette
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