While 8-year-old Aaron Davis battles a rare form of leukemia, Florida State University baseball players to local business owners are rallying support to keep his and his family’s spirits up.
Doctors diagnosed Aaron Davis with Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia, an uncommon form of blood cancer, about a month ago. Aaron has gotten support from Leon County Schools, the Animals of Section B, Elite Sporting Goods, former and current Florida State University football and baseball players, and even other neighbors in the community. Watch the video to see what that support looks like and how it’s helping Aaron and his family.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
Eight-year-old Aaron Davis eats, sleeps, and breathes baseball.
That was until his world quickly changed about a month ago.
He started complaining a lot of his anklesjust saying it was hard to walk, Gary Davis said.
Doctors diagnosed Aaron with Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia, a form of blood cancer.
The odds of getting it are one in a thousand, according to the American Cancer Society.
To his dad and Chiles High School Junior Varsity Football Coach Gary Davis, the diagnosis was devastating.
He’s the only boy I got, and this is what’s going on, you know, and that was pretty hard to hear, he said. Hes really been strong throughout this entire thing, which has been incredible to see, but at the same time, Im not exactly surprised.
Gary tells ABC 27 thats just Aaron.
But whats keeping Aarons spirits up is support from his Tallahassee community while undergoing treatment in Gainesville.
One of those supporters is Kip West, owner of Elite Sporting Goods.
When he heard the news, his first thought was shirts.
The initial goal was we would hope we’d sell, you know, 25, 50 t-shirts, and it sold 100 shirts in the first two days, West said.
Using the hashtag #AaronsArmy, theyve sold about $2000 worth of shirts with all proceeds going to Aarons family.
One of those shirts has become my undershirt for every game day, Gary said.
Well, you live in a town like TallahasseeIt’s still hometown, it’s still small, and this is what we do is we take care of each other, West said.
That support, along with letters from his classmates, care packages from former FSU baseball players, and a GoFundMe worth nearly $26,000, is helping Aaron and his family get through the tough days from treatment to hotel stays.
The response is just as overwhelming as the diagnosis was because it’s been incredible, the amount of love and support that we have gotten, Gary said.
West says hes hoping to sell more shirts for the family during another fundraiser coming up in the next few weeks.
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