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Tennis champ cheers on children in treatment
VENUS WILLIAMS VISITS RONALD MCDONALD HOUSE
By Julie Patel
Mercury News - July 27, 2005 - K.J. Estudillo, 12, has spent hours in front of his television set watching tennis star Venus Williams play in matches around the world. This month, he watched her triumphant comeback at Wimbledon from his bed at Lucile Packard Children's Hospital after a bone marrow transplant.
On Tuesday, the boy couldn't believe she was standing just a dozen feet away.
"It was a once-in-a-lifetime thing to see her so up close,'' the boy said beaming from behind a door in the immunity wing at the Ronald McDonald House at Stanford.
Children get visitor
Williams, who is in town for the Bank of the West Classic tournament at Stanford this week, visited with some of the children at the Ronald McDonald House, a home-away-from-home for kids and families being treated at local hospitals. Some young tennis players from San Francisco's Hunters Point also stopped by to meet one of tennis's biggest stars.
A global ambassador for the Ronald McDonald House Charities, Williams read passages from the book she co-wrote with her sister, "Venus & Serena Serving from the Hip: 10 Rules for Living, Loving, and Winning.'' In it, the superstar siblings share tips for teens on how to manage personal and professional goals.
Hovering over children sitting on steps in front of her, the 6-foot-1 Williams told them that when she is going through a hard time, she lets herself feel bad.
"Some days it's OK to feel sorry for yourself,'' she said. "It's one day, not the rest of your life.''
When asked who her toughest opponent has been, she said, "Definitely S. Williams.'' She talked about how her younger sister, Serena Williams, beating her in Grand Slam tournaments in recent years and how she worked to regain ground recently.
She said to get away, she likes to read and watch the "Fresh Prince of Bel-Air,'' the "Golden Girls'' and "Full House.'' She laughed when one child asked if she could be his coach.
Honey Meir-Levi, the executive director of the local Ronald McDonald House, said events like the book reading can help cheer families up a little.
"It was a great opportunity, but it was 10 times better than I thought it would be,'' she said. ``She's delightful and it was so inspirational.''
The mood has been really somber at the Ronald McDonald House recently, Meir-Levi said, because three of the children have died in the past two weeks.
"Maybe this will get things back on an optimistic or upward cycle,'' she said.
Listening from afar
K.J. has aplastic anemia, a disease where bone marrow stops making enough blood cells. Since his immune system is still weak and he can easily get infections, he had to listen to Williams from a door cracked open nearby.
He said the best part was when she walked past him and waved.
K.J., who plays basketball, football and performs hip hop at Golden State Warriors games with his dance troupe, said after hearing from Williams, there is one more activity he wants to add when he is feeling better: tennis classes.
Contact Julie Patel at jpatel@mercurynews.com or (650) 688-7550.
15-year old home after surviving four critical medical challenges in ten months
"I can't believe I'm comin' home!"
She was riding shotgun in her dad's Chevy pickup. For the first time in ten months, Ashley Davis was coming home.
"Y'hear everybody honkin'?" her mom asked.
Y'see, 15-year-old Ashley Davis couldn't see the crowds dotting Main Street. But she could hear the car horns being honked, and the WE-ooWE-ooWE-ooWE of Hutchinson Fire Department's Ladder One, leading the pickup down Main Street. And under the noise of the fire truck air horn, she could hear people cheering and applauding.
"Welcome home Ashley!" cheered one woman.
" Welcome Home!" echoed another.
When Ashley Davis left Hutchinson May 29. just before Memorial Day last year, she could still see. But then, she didn't realize she had aplastic anemia, which was already threatening her life.
She knew she was headed for Minneapolis Children's Hospital. She didn't know she would end up being treated at University Medical Center.
"It has been such a long journey," sighed Missy Davis, Ashley's mom, who had lived most of the ten months at the hospital with Ashley.
Because the anemia suppressed Ashley's immune system, she contracted. "a terrible Aspirgillis infection. She wasn't expected to survive," said Missy.
Doctors had planned to give Ashley an umbilical cord blood transplant. The Aspirgillis complicated things. She needed the transplant, but. .
"They'd never done that before," said Steve Davis, Ashley's Dad.
"She went into the transplant with the fungus. They didn't think she'd make it through that."
But she did."
Mom Missy reinforced her husband's words, almost as if she was retelling a nightmare.
"She went through transplant and everything was going well, and then she got. it's called Post Transplant Lymphoma Disorder which caused Ashley to lose her vision. It was in infection of the lining of her brain that caused so much swelling, and she wasn't expected to survive that either."
But she did.
Then came a bladder hemorrhage and consequent surgery.
Her dad remembers that with the most fear.
"That was the worst stretch there. They didn't think she'd pull through and she was pretty much out for 12 days after that."
Outside her home, dozens of friends from the neighborhood and church welcomed Ashley home with signs and hugs.
"Some of us didn't think thIs day would come, and it did, and we're glad to be here," celebrated Nikki Newcomb.
Another friend, Mary Gamradt added, "There was a really rough point during Christmas when it was just really hard, and now it's just totally turned around and it's just so exciting."
Ashley Davis is not expected to recover her sight, and her gestures appeared to waver a bit, but she was pumped.
"I've been up since five, but I'm not tired!" she stated.
She had survived four major threats to her life. That's why friends gave her a hero's welcome home.
She couldn't see a grandfather standing back near the pickup.
"It's a long journey," said Robert Davis.
"It ain't done yet, but it'll be better. It will!"
As far as Ashley Davis is concerned, being home means it's already better. Not perfect. But definitely better.
Y'see, for supper, her mom was going to make Ashely's favorite tacos.
"That hospital food was quite good at times," she said.
"But nothing's as good as Mom's tacos."
A fund has been set up to help pay Ashley's medical costs. It's called the Ashley Ann Davis Fund at Citizen's Bank, 102 Main Street South, Hutchinson, MN 55350.
If you'd like to learn more about Ashley's medical challenge, click here
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