Soccer star kicked cancer's butt

Ashlyn Reinstra was an athlete and busy college student about to celebrate her 19th birthday when the devastating news came: She had a rare and very aggressive form of leukemia.

Now back home and cancer-free, she is working to put her life back on track after her eight-month fight for survival.

Ashlyn said that she first noticed symptoms — headaches, fatigue, and inability to eat — around Christmas. It was when she took her then sixth-grade sister Addie to the doctor for strep throat and noticed that she herself answered yes to all the questions the doctor asked Addie that she realized she’d better go in

By mid-January, she was having trouble walking down the hallway. While doctors were hoping she just had mono, they were also testing her for lymphoma and leukemia.

“The doctor said, ‘We’re not going to even say the L-word,’” said Ashlyn’s mom Jaime. “My husband said it was probably just mono. We were hoping. We knew she was sick, but we didn’t know what it was…at that point, we did know that she couldn’t go back to school.”

On Saturday night, Jan. 18, Ashlyn had plans to celebrate her upcoming birthday with friends. But a phone call from the doctor with the terrible diagnosis of acute leukemia destroyed that plan.

“This kind of leukemia explodes and takes over,” said Jaime, explaining the seriousness of the sickness...

Full story in the Sept. 3 issue