Family members, friends, and neighbors hosted a parade in Westerville, Ohio, recently to brighten the day for a teenage girl battling leukemia.
“I just wanted her to have a little celebration for her birthday,” Alina Green told Spectrum News 1.
Everyone came together on Friday to wish Alina’s daughter, Jocelyn, a happy birthday and to cheer on her recovery.
“I’m just happy I get to see everyone and I just wasn’t expecting it. I was very surprised,” Jocelyn told the outlet.
A photo showed the young woman and her family enjoying the event with a huge sign that read “Happy 14th Birthday Jocelyn” in the background:
She is an eighth grader who also a dances and cheerleads for the St. Paul Rams.
But a few months ago, she experienced difficulty breathing while she performed at a football game.
Once she went to the Children’s Hospital, her loved ones were told she had been diagnosed with T-Cell Acute Leukemia Lymphoma.
Leukemia is a broad term for cancers that affect a person’s blood cells. The kind of leukemia depends on the type of blood cell that turns into cancer and if it grows fast or slow, according to the National Cancer Institute’s website.
“It was a rough 30 to 60 days from a treatment standpoint. Once she started to regain her strength you can tell she’s getting her energy back. Ever since she was diagnosed, the support from the community has just been completely overwhelming,” Jocelyn’s father, Charlie Green, noted.
She has since endured chemo treatments and spent 12 days in the ICU. On top of that, she was forced to isolate from her friends.
“We love you so much and even though we can’t all express it as we choose to, we just want her to know that,” friend Natalie Harvey commented.
Jocelyn realizes things may get tough in the future, but she dreams of the day she can return to how things were before.
“I want to dance and I want to see my friends, and yeah, just get back to normal,” she stated.
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