Ashley Whigam is only six years old, but she will walk for twice her age —12 hours — as part of Brookfield’s Relay for Life.
A person would find out a lot about Ashley in the first five minutes of meeting her. For example, her favorite Barbie doll has no name, wears a pink and orange dress, and sings when you press her right hand. She’d also tell you that she has a Dora the Explorer doll that’s practically as tall as she is, and that she likes to play outside with her older sister, Jessie, 8.
What she won’t tell you is that she has an inoperable brain tumor. Ashley was diagnosed with an optic glioma, a tumor on the optic nerve that carries visual information to the brain from each eye.
Her mother, Bobbie, noticed Ashley’s symptoms when she was 9 months old and took her to see the pediatrician.
“Ashley’s eyes were turning circles — oscillating — in her head,” Bobbie said. “I kept asking what was wrong with her.”
The pediatrician sent the Whigams to an optrician at the Loyola University Medical Center, 2160 S. 1st Ave., in Maywood. There, Ashley underwent an MRI, a test that used a body scanner to get detailed images of Ashley’s brain.
“The doctor kept assuring us that it there wouldn’t be a problem,” Bobbie said. “He kept saying, ‘I’m sure it’s nothing,’ and when we got the results, it was like our worst nightmare had happened.”

Beginning the fight
Since she has been nine months old, Ashley has had chemotherapy treatments to try and shrink the brain tumor, the exact size of which is unknown.
During her first round of chemotherapy, Ashley went for treatments once a week for 17 weeks. Each treatment lasted more than five hours, but Ashley didn’t seem to mind.
“I like going to the hospital because they are working to make my brain better so it feels normal,” Ashley said.
Since then, Ashley has had two more rounds of chemotherapy. She has transferred from an IV drip — a long process — to an IV push, where the chemotherapy drugs are pushed into her port, a tube inserted into her chest that delivers the medication directly to an artery in her heart. The push system cuts down the family’s time at the hospital, which is beneficial not only for Ashley, who has more time to play at home, but also for her mother, who has two other children, Jessie and Brittany, 11, to care for.
The chemotherapy treatments have had effects other than making her sick. At 5 and a half years old, Ashley lost her hearing as a result of taking the chemotherapy drug Carboplatin.
“She is categorized as profoundly, or severely deaf,” said Bobbie.
Ashley now wears hearing aids in both her ears.

Balance of challenge, support
She attends a regular elementary school, Brook Park Elementary School, 1214 Raymond Ave., in La Grange Park, and will enter first grade in the fall.
Going to school has not been without its challenges. When Ashley became deaf, the school gave her a special FM radio system that directly connected to her hearing aids. Her kindergarten teacher wore a microphone so that whatever she was saying, Ashley would be able to hear it.
“The squeaky chairs hurt my ears at school,” said Ashley. “My teacher put tennis balls on all the chairs so that they wouldn’t squeak anymore. She asked the kids to be quiet, too.”
But for every challenge, there’s been a supporting hand to help out the family.
The family has received much support from the Illinois Division of the American Cancer Society and the Make-A-Wish Foundation.
The American Cancer Society gave the Whigams rides to the hospital for chemotherapy and other appointments throughout Ashley’s treatment.
“They have been a godsend — ACS and Make-A-Wish,” said Bobbie.
Make-A-Wish arranged for the family to take a trip to Disney World in Florida for Ashley’s third birthday in September of 2005.
“I had breakfast with the princesses, and it was my birthday that day,” Ashley said.
Make-A-Wish also gives the family a $20 grocery card each month. Bobbie used to run a day care out of her home, but when Ashley got really sick, she had to close it.
“I don’t work, so it is hard to make ends meet,” Bobbie said. “That 20 dollars goes a long way.”

Inspiration to walk
Last year, Bobbie gave a speech about Ashley at Brookfield’s Relay for Life.
“I was so nervous,” Bobbie said. “I had Ashley holding one hand and my speech in the other, and I looked out and saw a hundred people staring at me.”
Bobbie’s speech inspired her girls.
“They were so moved,” Bobbie said. “They told me they wanted to walk this year, and I said OK.”
Ashley and her family will be walking with a few of her mother’s friends and two workers from their local CVS pharmacy.
“They see us in the pharmacy all the time,” Bobbie said. “We’re always there, with all the medicines, and they love seeing Ashley.”
Ashley, who walked in last year’s Survivor’s Lap — the first lap is solely for cancer survivor — remembered a special photo from the 2008 walk.
“I walked the lap on daddy’s shoulders,” Ashley said. “There was a man there from the newspaper, and he took a picture of me. When we got home, Mommy went on the computer and said, ‘Ashley come here,’ and there was the picture of me and daddy on the computer.”

Chemo-free summer
Ashley Whigam will be enjoying her first nearly doctor-free summer in years.
“When I told her we only had to go to the hospital once a month to have her port flushed, she was so excited,” Bobbie said. “She will still have to go to the eye doctor once a month every three months, and to speech therapy at Children’s Memorial Hospital, but there won’t be any chemo this summer.”
Ashley will have her next MRI on July 29. If the tumor has grown, she will undergo radiation five days a week for eight weeks. If it’s shrinking, the family is unsure of what happens next.
“If the tumor is doing nothing at all, neither will we,” Bobbie said.
For now, Ashley is clearly focused on the here and now.
“At Relay, I’m going to walk — a lot!” Ashley said.