'It's bigger than basketball': Community rallies around 5-year-old from Sutton with cancer
UPTON — As Ava Blazis twirled a pair of silver pom-poms and stood alongside the taller Nipmuc Regional High cheerleaders last month, the 5-year-old from Sutton wore a smile on her face.
Her smirk came along with a bounty of high-fives, hugs and giggles throughout a Nipmuc boys' basketball win over Whitinsville Christian on Jan. 30. But stowed behind those gestures was an underlying toll.
For the past year, Ava has battled cancer.
So this winter, her aunt, Johanna Annunziata, spearheaded a campaign with family, friends and the local basketball community to raise awareness and money for cancer research through a series of six hoop games.
All in a show of support to Ava.
“Seeing the community come together in all different pockets is awesome,” Annunziata said. “Seeing the athletes go above and beyond for a 5-year-old girl fighting cancer is so touching.”
“We have to let people know that this is not OK, and kids get cancer, too, and (my sister) gets to do that through various basketball games,” said Ava’s mom and Annunziata’s sister, Angela Blazis. “If we can raise more awareness for it, it makes it better hopefully for the next family.”
‘We need a world without cancer’
Ava Blazis wasn’t feeling well last March when she woke up one morning with an unusual pain in her abdomen.
“I didn’t really think much of it,” Ava’s mother said. “(But) as the day progressed (she started) feeling worse and worse, so I said to my husband, ‘I’ll take her to the ER, and maybe she’ll have appendicitis or something.’ ”
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A trip to UMass Memorial Medical Center in Worcester on March 11 resulted in an ultrasound. No appendicitis.
But, three days later, after being transferred to Boston Children’s Hospital, the then 4-year-old was diagnosed with something much worse: acute lymphoblastic leukemia.
A cancer of Ava’s blood and bone marrow.
“It was all just a blur,” Ava’s mother said. “It was obviously something that was really hard to deal with.”
On March 15, Ava began chemotherapy treatments. Over the past 11 months, she has taken more medications “than you can even imagine” and gone under more anesthesia “than any adult will in their lifetime.”
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A chemo port was placed in her chest, and although she’s now in a “maintenance phase,” Ava currently receives chemotherapy treatments every week, steroids each month and undergoes spinal chemo infusions every eight weeks.
Ava will be in treatment until June 2025, when she will be 7.
“Every day I see her little body fight this awful disease and it is a constant reminder that we need a world without cancer, and most definitely need a world where Ava’s treatment is not (two-plus) years long,” her aunt said.
“She’s a tough girl,” her mother said. “We’re trying to stay positive for her and keep things as normal as we can in her life.”
Love and Basketball
Ever since she was Ava’s age, Johanna Annunziata has either played basketball or coached the sport.
The former Auburn High player and David Prouty and Notre Dame Academy coach decided to take this winter season off, however, to support her niece amid Ava’s weekly cancer treatments.
“She is who I want to be around all the time,” said Annunziata, who teaches at Nipmuc Regional. “I need to be there for her.”
This winter, Annunziata formed “Team Ava” to raise awareness and money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, and specifically the “Dare to Dream” campaign that aims to transform treatment for kids with cancer.
Donate: Help Ava's aunt with her fundraising campaign
Annunziata set up a handful of fundraising games at Assumption University, Elms College, Nipmuc Regional, Noble & Greenough, Oxford High and Sutton High to support Ava’s fight — and other children who will have to battle cancer like Ava.
“I knew that I wanted to keep basketball close to my heart,” said Annunziata, who has been nominated as a Visionary of the Year for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. “So I decided to use my basketball platform as a way to raise awareness and money for cancer research, and to show Ava that she is so much more than cancer.”
Bigger than the sport
Wearing an orange ribbon on a white T-shirt that read “Hoops for Hope” and “Team Ava” printed in black, Annunziata ushered Ava around the Sutton High gymnasium for the final event of the six-game series on Thursday.
During the Suzies’ win over Notre Dame Academy, Sutton High senior Lily Sullivan spent a lot of time hanging out with Ava. The two have become close over the past year — despite their 12-year gap in age.
Like Ava, Sullivan was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia when she was younger. When she heard of Ava’s battle with cancer last year, the 17-year-old from Sutton wanted to serve as a mentor to Ava.
“She’s my girl,” said Sullivan, who is now 17 and cancer-free. “It’s just awesome to be able to be there for somebody when you’ve had the same exact experience as them.”
Although Ava’s cancer diagnosis has provided a challenge unlike any other for her and her family over the past 11 months, having the basketball community rally around them has provided a positive spin out of a negative situation.
Ava and her family know they are not alone. And they appreciate the support.
Both on and off the court.
“I would never wish this on my worst enemy but the people that have come into our lives because of this will be in our lives forever,” Ava’s mom said. “Like people are just incredible and we wouldn’t be able to do it without the support of everybody. Just knowing that there’s a community behind us just makes it feel a little bit better.”
“It’s bigger than basketball,” Ava’s aunt said. “For Ava, cancer will always be a part of her story, but I don’t want it to be her whole book. She’s going to fight this, and she’s going to beat this, and I hope her life is open and full.”
—Contact Tommy Cassell at tcassell@telegram.com. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @tommycassell44.
This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Local basketball community shows support to Ava Blazis who has cancer
