Arianna Lewis spent more than 400 days at CHOP battling leukemia. Her family is seeking team members in the Parkway Run & Walk.
Marlton’s 2-year-old Arianna Lewis has spent more time visiting doctors and stuck in a hospital than most adults.
Earlier this spring, the young girl returned from 409 days at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, where she battled Juvenile Myelomonocytic Leukemia, a rare form of blood cancer.
After Arianna underwent chemotherapy and a bone marrow transplant, and after several instances where her family believed they were about to lose her, Arianna finally returned to her home in Marlton cancer-free in April.
Yet even after her extended stay at CHOP, Arianna’s mother, Katrina Knott, said her young daughter made quite the lasting impression on many of the hospital’s doctors, nurses and staff.
As Knott attempted to keep Arianna out of a hospital gown as much as possible during her time at CHOP, Arianna became known for walking around the hospital with bows in her hair and painted nails, pushing a small car while playing music through a bluetooth speaker and dancing.
“She was always smiling, waving to everybody, and she’d just light up the hospital,” Knott said.
Arianna made such an impression that a committee at the hospital has selected Arianna as one of 11 children ambassadors for this year’s Parkway Run & Walk in Philadelphia next month.
The walk, held every September, brings thousands of people together along the Benjamin Franklin Parkway in Philadelphia to raise money for CHOP and pediatric cancer research.
As an ambassador, Arianna’s picture has been used in posters and advertisements, and she will be honored on the day of the event as well.
Knott said Arianna and the family couldn’t participate in the walk last year, so this year with Arianna as an ambassador, they were sure to create their own team and join others raising funds.
“At this point, I’m only 31, and I know more children that have passed away than adults, and I think that’s horrible and sickening,” Knott said. “You become like a family when you’re in oncology, especially the bone marrow transplant wing because you’re under so many restrictions and you’re secluded from most of the hospital and the world. Witnessing those children and our friends pass away, it’s just not OK.”
Sandi DiMarco, Arianna’s aunt, said the family is committed to doing whatever it can to raise money for CHOP and children’s cancer research.
“Children’s cancer research is grossly underfunded … people only think of the smiling, little, happy, bald faces, and that’s not it,” DiMarco said. “They don’t realize how bad it is and how dire a situation it is. They think most of the children are cured and they just walk away with a bald head, and that’s not the case.”
Knott agreed, and said she hoped her team and event could bring more awareness to those affected by childhood cancer, as in their family’s experience, they’ve found many would rather turn their head than deal with something so emotionally draining.
“They don’t want to see it. It’s too hard. It’s like the sad pet commercials on TV, you just change the channel as quick as you can because you don’t want to see it,” Knott said.
To join Arianna’s team or donate funds, visit parkway.chop.edu and search for Arianna’s Army of Angels. Supporters can also follow Arianna’s journey through her Facebook page of the same name.
The 2017 Parkway Run & Walk is scheduled for Sunday, Sept. 24, with opening ceremonies set to begin at 8 a.m.
