Teen takes 10-year-old sister with terminal disease to winter formal
AJ Spader, right, took his sister, who is battling a rare cancer, to a winter dance instead of a classmate. (Fox News Insider)
(FoxNews.com) - A South Dakota teenage boy could have picked his date for his high school’s Valentine’s Winter Formal from his group of classmates, but instead he chose to take his younger sister, who is suffering from a rare cancer that has become terminal.
AJ Spader, who attends O’Gorman High School, in Sioux Falls, told KSFY that his sister Rebekah, 10, “trumped them all.”
The news station reported that Rebekah was diagnosed with myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) years ago, and after a bone marrow transplant failed, her family opted to forgo treatment to let her enjoy the time she has left. According to the National Cancer Institute, there are fewer than 200,000 US cases of MDS each year, and the condition indicates a group of cancers whereby immature blood cells in the bone marrow don’t mature or become healthy.
For the winter formal, AJ and Rebekah got dressed up, and even got a matching corsage and boutonniere. They also went out to dinner with AJ’s classmates and their dates.
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