(WXYZ) - When a child is diagnosed with cancer…survival is all that matters. But when the cancer is conquered…it’s time to start living again. And for many young people that means it’s time for college.
Ryan Washeleski is a student teacher at Warren Mott High School. He’ll graduate from Northern Michigan University in December.
That didn’t seem so certain at the end of his freshman year. Ryan learned he had a very aggressive form of cancer.
He underwent chemotherapy, radiation therapy, and seven surgeries in one year.
Ryan, the future teacher, had always been a good student. In fact he had a scholarship. But because He did not attend college continuously and had to take time out to fight cancer he ended up losing it.
And so the man who helped Ryan win his battle against cancer helped him win a scholarship for the rest of his college career.
Dr. Charles Main said, “About 20 years ago we noticed that there was a tremendous improvement in the number of survivors of childhood cancer. In many cases their finances had been wiped out. They had missed a great deal of school so they were not the usual scholarship winner and they did not think of themselves as scholarship material.”
So Dr. Main, Chief of Pediatric Hematology and Oncology at Beaumont, looked for a way to go beyond medical treatment.
He told us, “If we could give them the message that they were finished with their chemotherapy and it was time to get on with their life and be productive citizens , if we could help them get into college, that would be a matter of cure, true cure.”
So that was the start of the pediatric cancer survivor scholarship fund. This year the fundraiser will include an auction of more than 40 guitars signed by celebrities.
This year there are guitars signed by Santana, by the Jonas brothers, Bob Seeger, Kid Rock, just a tremendous array of guitars.
Even one from the late Les Paul. The event this Saturday will include a strolling dinner… live and silent auctions of a variety of items… and a live concert by REO Speedwagon
“We started out with one cancer patient who went on to college and this year we’re fortunate to have 40 cancer survivors in college,” Dr. Main told us.
And each student receives two-thousand dollars a year for as long as they go to college and graduate school.
Ryan says, “This kind of said there’s a scholarship out here to continue your education and keep going, get your job done, get back into society. Just because you had cancer doesn’t mean that you’re no longer a person.”
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