About Us

The little girl above is our daughter, Ashley, who was born on
August 28, 2001 with a rare, very aggressive form of cancer called
Rhabdomyosarcoma.

This solid tumor was on her tongue at birth during the delivery process. The
weeks after her birth included numerous doctor visits to check the progress of
the tumor, unknown at the time to be cancer. It was fast growing so it quickly
became impossible to breast feed, then impossible to feed using a bottle. Ashley
could not suck on a pacifier, nor could she keep this growing tumor inside her
mouth. It was frightening to look at so we had to keep her from the outside
world because it scared young kids. What was suppose to be a precious time in
our lives instead, became a horrifying experience.

October 3, 2001 marks the day for many life changing events in our lives. Ashley
endured emergency surgery to remove the tumor that was now measuring over
2.7cm and covering 1/3 of her tongue.

After surgery, we were told she may never talk, or even if she talks there was
no guarantee that Ashley will talk well. We were also told that treating a
newborn with cancer will be difficult, and the truth of the reality is that if the
cancer doesn't kill her - the chemo might. So here we were, standing over our
daughter who was incubated and in ICU, trying to figure out what to do next.
This day also marks the day that we, David and Christina Lillig, renewed our
marriage vows while holding one another by the water fountain outside Scottish
Rite, praying for God to take control of our lives and help us get through this.

We realized we had no control over the outcome with Ashley. Nothing we did
could stop what was going on! Our newborn baby has Cancer! The only thing we
knew we could do as parents was offer the best life possible to our children...a
home full of laughter, joy and hope. We dedicated our lives to Jesus at that very
moment and gave up our own selfishness. We devoted all our time and energy to
making sure we kept a huge smile on our face and always kept Ashley laughing, in
the midst of the scariest moment of our lives. Christina would only cry in the
shower where no one could hear her. We truly felt it was very important that
Ashley never saw less than a smile on our face.

Many caring individuals on an online pregnancy message board (Geoparent) that
Christina belonged to while pregnant heard of Ashley's journey and began
spreading the word of how Ashley needed a special type of clothing (she needed
button front onesies due to a central line in her chest), and then started sending
cards, money, gifts, etc. to encourage and uplift the entire family. We quickly
became friends with our local Fed-ex driver because the 2 weeks leading up to
Christmas 2001 was delivery after delivery every single day. Inside were the
onesies Ashley needed, baby food, diapers, even Christmas gifts for the family.

David's employer at that time, Day's Chevrolet, helped by raising money to help
keep our health insurance in effect several times when Ashley was hospitalized
so he could be with her.

In addition, Ashley's pediatrician's office sponsored our kids for Christmas that
year and really went way and beyond to give our kids the best Christmas ever
and take all of our minds off of our circumstances.

All this unexpected outpouring of love really showed us how caring people can be
during tragic times, and really encouraged our family when it felt we couldn't go
on. This encouragement also helped us give better care to Ashley because our
spirits were uplifted. We are so grateful to God that all these people all over
the world cared enough about what we were going through to let us know.

Ashley finished 48 weeks of intense chemotherapy on August 30, 2002, just 2
days after she turned 1 year old. During our daughter's battle, we grew close to
a little 2-1/2 yr old Canadian girl, Ashley Dawn, and after watching her lose the
battle with Rhabdomyosarcoma, we just couldn't forget that thousands of
children every single day battle cancer and need encouragement as well. We
began praying about our direction and allowed God to guide our paths as we
founded Cancer Warriors to touch the lives of other children battling cancer in
the same way others touched our lives. It's kind of a "Pay it Forward" in a way.

Ashley loves to get involved and goes with us to the cancer unit of the hospital
often as we visit families. She'll draw pictures to give out, help us hand out toys
and other special gifts, deliver a meal, etc. Most of all she shows compassion
over what they are going through because she's been there herself!

Cancer Warriors was born in July 7, 2004!