Since 4-year-old Aryn Quinlan was diagnosed with B-ALL leukemia in November, her parents Jessica and Jeremiah have done everything in their power to make her childhood as normal as possible.
Every two weeks, the little warrior receives a high dose chemotherapy infusion at Cohen Children’s Medical Center in Queens, where she is kept anywhere from two days to 10 days to recover. If her ANC is too low, she is considered neutropenic, and most of the time she can only leave the house to go to the hospital.
Aryn loves spending time with her older sisters Avery (8), Dylan (15) and Riley (17). The girls often make crafts together, including making one-of-a-kind key chains and pens at home, an activity that can easily be brought to the hospital.
Aryn loves sharks and recently asked her mother to visit Long Island Aquarium in Riverhead to see the sharks and “fishies.” Jessica promised to take Aryn once her numbers were good. To Jessica’s surprise, 8-year-old Avery asked if she could raise the money to treat Aryn herself.
“We could have taken Aryn to the aquarium—it would be a little bit of a stretch because with six of us, it does get expensive—but Avery really wanted to do it herself and treat her sister,” shared Jessica. “I love that she is so caring and wants to do that.”
Thus sprouted the idea of Avery’s big sale. She put her older sisters Dylan and Riley to work, with key chain and pen supplies quickly covering the table and floor as all the sisters diligently worked on their creations. Avery had been growing plants from seeds she got for her birthday in March and she readied the loofah plants, watermelon, squash, wildflowers, sunflowers, and parsley for sale. She also wanted to sell lemonade, but opted to sell non-mint juleps from her “Princess Tiana” recipe book instead.
Jessica bought some extra display materials for Avery, posted in an Islip Facebook group to announce the sale on Sunday, July 13, alongside her daughters.
The community’s response was staggering, with an overwhelming number of customers coming to purchase the plants, pens, juleps and rubber ducks.
“Some people came just to see the girls, get a little julep, which was $2, paid with $20-plus, and refused any change,” said Jessica. “Avery was trying to give them stuff to say thank you.”
Riley hand-squeezed lemons inside to keep up with the demand for juleps, while Dylan and her friend helped with the sale by moving merchandise in and out of the house.
Aryn was especially excited to see one of her favorite oncology nurses, Ashley, who came with her husband and daughter.
Thanks to Aryn’s father Jeremiah Quinlan, a member of the Lynbrook Police Department, word of the sale quickly spread among law enforcement. Police officers from both the Lynbrook and Suffolk County police departments were plentiful at the sale, buying merchandise and chatting with the Quinlan girls.
Even former Islip residents that live across the country got in on the action. People from Arizona and Florida that couldn’t attend the sale sent donations and ordered pens and keychains to be shipped.
Avery was able to raise more money than needed to take her sister to the aquarium. Now, Avery can take the entire family, and Aryn can pick out anything she wants from the gift shop, Avery’s treat.
All the money raised has now been set aside into a new “fun day fund” for Aryn. When she has better ANC counts during treatment, or after an especially hard round, the Quinlans will pull from the fund to take Aryn to do something exciting.
“Aryn has two more years of treatment. She is poked and prodded, she has bruises all over her body, and she always feels tired. But we do not want her to only remember the bad,” explained Jessica. “We want her to look back at whatever she can remember, because she is so young, and remember fun times with the family.”
Brave little Aryn is looking forward to the aquarium to see the sharks the outdoor butterfly exhibit outside, where she can take off her mask. Thanks to Avery and the generosity of the greater Islip community, there will be many more exciting memories to be made ahead with her family.
“Avery pulled out a notebook and has been writing down all the places she wants to take Aryn. She has a list,” noted Jessica. “So, I guess we will just check them off as we go.”
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