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Ava
Elizabeth Zebert was born on May 14,
2007. She is the daughter of Brian and Lorena
Zebert and sister of Andrew (17) and Michael (11).
Ava is currently a 10th Grade Student at Quakertown
High School. Ava is a straight A student who is
enrolled in many honors and AP classes. She was
a member of the National Junior Honor Society,
Key Club, and volunteers much of her time in the
community. Like any teenager she enjoys spending
time with her friends and family.
From an early age, Ava has always been active.
She enjoyed playing sports like hockey and basketball
with her brothers. At the age of 6, Ava signed
up to play softball with Richland Area Softball
Association (RASA). She was very athletic, a natural.
Her love for the sport continued to grow as she
got older. At age 9, she tried out for the 12U
PA panthers and during tryouts, she took 3 softballs
to the face and just kept moving. She did not
make the team that year, but that did not stop
her. At age 10, she started playing travel softball
with the 12U PA Panthers and at the age of 12
joined the Lehigh Valley Phantoms. Ava is a student
of the game and always wanting to learn more so
she can be the best she can be. This is how she
tackles life as well. Everything she does, whether
it is school or sports, she does with focus and
determination.
On June 18th at a tournament here in Quakertown,
Ava scraped her knee which quickly became infected.
We took her to the hospital where they took blood
and treated her with antibiotics. She had two
additional blood tests over the next week which
were abnormal. After speaking to her physician,
we were advised to consult with a pediatric hematologist
at St. Christopher’s in Philadelphia. The
doctor called us to discuss the results. Ava’s
blood work showed “blasts” which were
indicative of leukemia. We were instructed to
come back to St. Christopher’s the next day
to talk with the oncology doctor and at that time,
she was admitted for a bone marrow biopsy. The
news we received that day was not good news and
Ava just wanted to go home. We made the decision
to transfer her to Lehigh Valley Children’s
Hospital where she was diagnosed on July 1st,
2022, with T-Cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia. Ava
was hospitalized for the first month of chemotherapy
treatment. The doctors said the goal was to eradicate
the leukemia from her bone marrow and get Ava
to “clinical remission” in the first
29 days. On August 5th – she made it. The
results of the 29-day bone marrow biopsy came
back from Johns Hopkins and the results indicated
that Ava was in Clinical Remission. Ava continues
to battle every day. Some days are better than
others and there will be bumps in the road ahead.
She still has another 2 and a half years of treatment
to battle this cancer, but we have no doubts she
will beat it.
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and our family cannot express how grateful we
are for the continued prayers, love and support
from our family, friends, teammates, the entire
softball community, the entire Quakertown community,
Quakertown High School (teachers, students, coaches,
athletes), Lehigh Valley Phantoms, St. Isidore’s
RC Church and complete strangers. We would specifically
like to thank Eric Medlin who organized this tournament
with the help of so many others in the community.
Your efforts to help in any and every way are
truly appreciated. Ava is strong, focused and
determined to beat this. Having all of you behind
her supporting her is a true blessing. #AVAS ARMY
~Brian
Zebert
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