HEALTH & FITNESS

wellness

FAMILY TIES

FRANKLIN ATHLETIC CLUB

from page 47

"Ashley and I are
very connected.
Sometimes, she
knows my thoughts
and vice versa.
Truly, truly she has
always been my
thermometer — if
she was good, I was
good."

- Alyssa Goldberg

family brought out in me," she says,
"from the certainty of knowing that
every time I awoke from a surgery,

I would see my mother, father and
sister proudly smiling back at me."

Her illness has shaped, but not
daunted her, she says. Despite her
still-fragile leg, she does yoga and

•

lh

Pay No Due 11 July!

with the mention of this ad

New members only I Some restrictions apply.
Expires 5/18/2010

29350 Northwestern Highway Southfield, Michigan 48034
WWW.FRANKLINCLUB.COM

48

April 29 2010

Jewelry Benefits Charity

Ashley also makes and sells beaded
jewelry (www.growingwingsjewelry.
corn), donating a portion of the

profits to Make-A-Wish. She loves
showing at local craft fairs, such
as the recent Sisterhood Spring

Boutiques and Fine Art Auction held
at Temple Israel in West Bloomfield.

hopes to work for a nonprofit ser-
vice organization.

"Because of her story, I'm forgoing
something else (at another booth)

She helped bring the American
Cancer Society's Relay for Life

to get this," says Laurie Gonte, a
Farmington Hills resident who was

fund-raiser to the campus of Indiana
University where she earned a

choosing among several pieces. "It
makes me feel so good to do this."

bachelor's degree in psychology.
To qualify for a master's degree in
clinical psychology from the Michigan

"Even if somebody doesn't buy
something, I feel I'm able to form
good connections with people,"

School of Professional Psychology
in Farmington Hills, she wrote her

Ashley says. "We laugh, we cry; we
have so much fun doing this."
"The jewelry lets me express
myself creatively and give back

thesis on "The Adult Experience of
Surviving Childhood Cancer."

who had a parent with cancer.

.8000 EX7:435

Dannel Schwartz at Shir Shalom on
May 10, 1997.

rides horses. She loves children and

As a program manager at a non-
profit in Boston, she managed and
facilitated a group for 5-12 year olds

248.

Bat mitzvah Ashley Goldberg with
Rabbis Michael Moskowitz and

to Make-A-Wish. I've spoken at a

number of events. We help out at a
lot of their fundraisers."

"Ashley is an amazing person,"

She currently mentors 12-year-old
Lily Upp of Berkley, who also had
bone cancer.

says Marianna Pruss of West
Bloomfield, her friend since seventh
grade.

"Ashley is such a great mentor
for Lily," says Sue Upp, Lily's mom.

"I don't feel special," Ashley says.
"I feel I've lived a different life. It's
given me the gift of knowing what's

"She is fun, upbeat, a wonderful role

model and always brings a smile to
Lily's face. They share an unfortunate
life experience and have formed a
special bond because of it."

important — what's petty and
what's not." ❑

(Some of the material for this story

"I love having Ashley as a mentor
because she is fun to talk with and

master's thesis "The Adult Experience of

is somebody that I can relate to,"
Lily says.

permission.)

was excerpted from Ashley Goldberg's

Sury lying Childhood Cancer" with her