When Allie Severino grows up she wants to be a makeup artist. She is a strong-willed, cheery, girly girl. She is a proud military child. Allie loves being with her family and misses her grandparents, who live faraway. She has a generous spirit—even in her own battle.
 
Allie was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia when she was 5 years old, in October 2014. 
 
Shortly after moving to Europe as part of a military transfer, Allie had little red dots on her legs. Allie had rashes before, so her mother, Ashley, just assumed it was skin irritation. But this time, Allie was also lethargic. Ashley spent the weekend asking friends what they thought and searching the internet. The number one search result was Leukemia.
 
Monday morning, Allie was at the doctor who agreed to run a full blood panel (but felt the spots were nothing but a rash). The next day, Allie had spots around her eyes. One day later, Allie’s parents received the call that Allie’s blood work was abnormal and that they needs to get to the hospital immediately. They told Allie had leukemia—but not the type or severity. 
 
Allie was in intensive chemotherapy for 8 months. During this time she went through daily in-hospital chemotherapy, then twice a week chemotherapy and then 4 days on and 10 days off for 2 months. Allie is currently in the maintenance phase of chemo. She takes an oral pill each night and goes to the hospital every 5 weeks for either a lumbar puncture or quick chemo bags. Allie has had countless blood and platelet transfusions. She has also endured endless and dreaded steroids that make her very angry and sad as well. 
 
Allie is resilient and one of the bravest kids around. She fights bravely every day in a new country. Allie knows what needs to be done and does it. She is not only brave, but she is kind. 
 
Allie loves making headbands for other people fighting cancer. She passes out her headbands to other little girls and grown-ups fighting cancer to make their heads feel pretty. She loves the warm feeling she gets when she can make others happy, even if just for moment. 
 
Allie’s mom hopes for a cure for Allie and that someday, Allie will grow up to help other people battling cancer-a nurse, a doctor or one of the fabulous people at the hospital who do crafts, play music and play with the children. The impact of Allie’s diagnosis has been deep on her family and they hope positive things will come in the future. 
 
Ashley advises other families to take everything one minute at a time. She says that hardest part is the diagnosis and from there it is a fight. Regardless of diagnosis, she says, fight like there is no tomorrow and don’t give up. 
 
Allie has similar advice, she often says: “Just keep fighting.”
 
Perfect advice from this brave strong hero!

Information provided by the Severino Family
December 2015

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