4 Ohio childhood friends who beat cancer graduate from high school

AKRON, Ohio — 4 childhood buddies who beat most cancers reached one other milestone collectively earlier this month.

Kemery Kerschner, Madison Lehman, Morgan Loudon and Katelynn “Boo” Magyar all graduated from totally different excessive faculties throughout the state lately. It is a particular milestone, however these lifelong buddies have handed many in the previous few years.

“I felt like I had been by means of a lot and that I might skilled and realized a lot by the point I used to be 18, highschool virtually felt so small,”  Loudon, who graduated from West Department Excessive College in Beloit.

Loudon was identified at 8 years outdated with Rhabdomyosarcoma close to her left kidney. Rhabdomyosarcoma is the most typical sort of sentimental tissue sarcoma in kids. She’s going to Ohio State College and plans to turn into a pediatric sports activities medication physician. 

Kerschner graduated from Ashland Excessive College and goes to Davenport College. Her dream is to turn into a toddler life specialist in honor of the one who cared for her at Akron Kids’s Hospital. 

She battled Wilms tumor or nephroblastoma. The commonest sort of kidney most cancers in kids.

“I am a two-time most cancers survivor and I’ll this tremendous nice school for cheer and stunt and it is one thing that not quite a lot of youngsters that undergo what we went by means of get to do,” Kerschner stated.

The 4 met after they have been youngsters, every preventing most cancers at Akron Kids’s Hospital, all studying life classes far too younger. 

Tyjanna Lehman, Madison’s mother, stated watching her daughter graduate is bittersweet as a result of she is aware of there are different dad and mom who gained’t get to see this second.  

“No child ought to ever should cope with one other baby passing away, and sadly all of them know a number of,” Tyjanna stated. 

“It is virtually like I used to be like carrying the folks that could not be there with us with me so they may undergo it too,” Madison stated, who graduated from Crestview Excessive College.

Madison was identified on the age of 4 with Burkitt lymphoma, a type of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma that’s quick rising and deadly if left untreated.

She’s going to Ashland College to check life sciences and maybe in the future turn into a science instructor. 

The 4 admit preventing, surviving, and thriving wasn’t a straightforward journey.  Usually, they handled despair and anxiousness. 

“It is arduous being a child and having these flashbacks and particularly coping with survivor’s guilt,” Kerschner stated.

“I’m simply blown away by how sensible they’re and their skill to speak about the place they’re and push themselves by means of this,” she stated.

The 4 cast friendships like no different.

“I used to be at all times jealous of the children that truly acquired to go to high school once we could not, so it was at all times good to satisfy the children within the hospital and at camps and to know we weren’t going by means of issues alone,” Magyar stated.

She was identified at age 4 with lymphoblastic leukemia, most cancers of the bone marrow and blood.  She’ll attend the Faculty of Wooster and intends to turn into a pediatric oncologist.

Their bond has solely turn into stronger because the years handed and whereas they could not be capable of see one another as typically as they like, they be in contact nearly and with calls and texts. 

Every can also be a medical pioneer having participated in medical trials coping with their analysis. Analysis is ongoing into all sides of affected person care.

“We’re studying extra concerning the impression of stress, the social determinants of well being and the way that impacts the long-term outcomes of not solely surviving your illness however the way you thrive afterward,” stated Dr. Jeffrey Hord, Akron Kids’s Hospital Director of Hematology-Oncology.

The 4 really feel like outdated souls, a lot wiser than their age and seemingly extra ready for the long run.

Their dad and mom say their youngsters have been instructing them methods to get by means of life.

“Perspective, she at all times had a optimistic perspective,” stated Katelynn’s dad, John Magyar.

Kerschner’s dad, Toby, couldn’t agree extra.

“The reality is, we acquired our energy from her. I imply if you’re that younger and nonetheless retaining that optimistic perspective, it is infectious,” he stated.

The graduates stated the knowledge, got here from the hospital, not highschool. What do they hope to show others?

“You need to be compassionate in all conditions,” Loudon stated.

“You’ll want to be understanding, you do not know individuals’s tales, in the event that they’re impolite to you, possibly they’d a foul day,” Lehman stated.

“Do not take any day as a right since you by no means know if you will not have the following day so it’s good to reside life to the fullest,” Magyar stated.

“You’ll have your true buddies clearly for the remainder of your life and so they’ll love you for whoever you’re, no matter you have been by means of,” Kerschner added.

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