Alisha Harmon
Mocksville, NC

Alisha Harmon didn't expect to lose her hair and have to wear a wig when she turned 13. But then she didn't expect to find out she had acute lymphocytic leukemia either. "It was pretty scary," she said. But she decided early on to keep a positive attitude. Her doctors at Brenner Children's Hospital tried to help with that, above and beyond the medicine they gave her to force the disease into remission.

Dr. Allen Chauvenet, pediatric oncologist, knows how to relate to his young patients—whether it is demonstrating his juggling skill, borrowing Alisha's wig to wear on the adolescent floor, or just sharing some crackers at the edge of the bed, his way of squeezing in a "lunch" break.

"Drs. Chauvenet and [Marcia] Wofford make you feel like family," said Alisha's mother, Sharon Massey. "They were very nice but to the point, telling us exactly what to expect."

Alisha was in and out of the hospital several times the first year. But because her diagnosis was made early, the disease went into remission faster than for some other patients. One of the highlights of her stay at Brenner Children's was the night some of her nurses took her out to see the Ice Capades on a special pass.

Grateful that her daughter has now graduated from high school and still shows signs of good health, Sharon says, "You never know when something like this may hit your family. If not for research and the advances in treating leukemia, Alisha might not have survived."