STORY BY NICOLE IUZZOLINO
ILLUSTRATION BY LAUREN VICENZI
When Ava Hanlon was a little girl, her grandmother took her on a tour of the embalming room of their funeral home on Long Island. She remembers gazing at the embalmer, the machine that would pump the blood out of the body while simultaneously pumping in a water solution. Ava was never phased.
“My grandma said I would call her on the phone and talk about some eye surgery I was watching.” Ava would shy away from the typical cartoon shows and opt for the Discovery Health channel instead. She always seemed to have a passion for the medical industry, leading to her to graduate with a degree in Biomedical Science and a French Language minor.
Following her passion for medicine, Ava has worked her entire collegiate career with St. Jude Up ‘til Dawn, an organization that fundraises for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital to help with research and treatment for pediatric cancer.
When Ava was 15, she came across a Facebook page for a young boy in her community. Run by his parents, the page showed that he was battling stage four neuroblastoma cancer. Ava was instantly drawn to the way the community rallied behind the boy, and was fascinated by the science behind treating his disease. “I started googling all of the scientific aspects [of his illness], and it led me to other Facebook pages for children battling the same disease.”
Three years later, when Ava was in her senior year of high school, her family was hit with the news that a family friend of theirs, Olivia Hope, was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia. After a whole year of treatment, and after her 11-year old twin sister donated bone marrow, she ultimately passed away. The Olivia Hope Foundation was created to fund research for this rare form of Leukemia. As a twin herself, it was difficult for Ava to see another set of twins endure so much pain and suffering.
When Ava began fundraising for St. Jude up ‘til Dawn her freshman year, she instantly became one of the top fundraisers, raising over $1,000 on her own. By sophomore year she was a board member. As the strategy director, Ava was in charge of recruitment and fundraising, which the two main components of the event.
National recruitment days, taking place at the end of September, are at the center of garnering support for the event. Schools across the nation compete on these days to recruit the largest number of volunteers. This past fall, Marist’s chapter placed first in the nation, a perfect way to conclude Ava’s time with St. Jude up ‘til Dawn at Marist.
The summer before Junior year, Ava was selected to attend the St. Jude Collegiate Leadership Seminar at Saint Jude hospital. At this two-day seminar, Ava attended workshops and how to fundraise for the event. At the end of the two days, Ava was able to tour the hospital for the first time. Ava was deeply touched upon seeing a scar on an infant’s head, a little girl in a wheelchair pointing to artwork on the walls, and an individual crying in the waiting room. “It was such a raw experience, just to see what peoples lives are like that go through all of this.”
Her generosity and drive for success is easily seen by her professors at Marist. Ava’s advisor and organic chemistry professor, Dr. Jocelyn Nadeau, raved about her tenacity. “When she is passionate about something, she goes all in.”
Dr. James Snyder, Interim Dean for Academic Engagement, recruited Ava to be a member of the Honors Program, and knew she had a drive in her the moment they met. “I knew from the second I met her that she was so smart, interesting, and she just has this heart about her, that she cares so much about other people.”
Ava is actively looking at medical schools, and has been diligently studying for the MCAT, a medical school placement exam. Depending on what specialty in the medical field she chooses, she faces another 10 years of education. Ava is deciding between being an OBGYN or a pediatric cancer doctor. She smiles at that daunting number calmly, because “it is what I have to do to get to the career that I want.”
With Ava’s time at Marist concluding, she reflects upon her many sources of inspiration, Olivia Hope being the greatest of all. “If it wasn’t for her, I don’t know if I would have been as involved with St. Jude up ‘til Dawn or being a childhood cancer awareness advocate.”
Before Olivia passed away, Ava would check up on her from time to time, and she was planning to visit her at St. Jude, even before she was on the board of the fundraising event on campus.
“She has thanked me many times for caring about her, I just wish I could thank her for doing all of this for me.”
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