One of the worst things about having leukemia for Lena Rayas is being homebound and away from friends, school and bowling.
Lena, a senior at Oak Lawn Community High School, spends her days working on her online English course, texting friends, watching movies and sleeping. Lately she has been strong enough to enjoy short trips to a fast food restaurant and Orland Square Mall with friends.
“The hardest part is sitting at home doing nothing,” said Lena, 17, whose leukemia now is in remission under treatment. “I do have my friends and stuff … but they have their own lives and can’t always come over when they want.”
Though her classmates aren’t able to always be there, that doesn’t mean they’re not thinking of her.
The high school’s baseball program is rooting for Lena, dedicating its May South Suburban Conference game against Tinley Park in her honor. Special jerseys with her name and the school logo will be sold for $20 each in March, with the proceeds going to the Rayas family to help offset medical bills.
William Gerny, the school’s head baseball coach who taught Lena in his sophomore English class, is coordinating the fundraiser.
“I just remember her as being a very genuine person and a very hard worker,” he said. “That’s the reason she kind of stood out.
“This is just a way for her to celebrate her senior year and make it memorable for the right reasons and not because she wasn’t there.”
Gerny has been organizing fundraisers for OLHS faculty and families struck by tragedy for several years, though this is the first he’s put together for one of the school’s students.
“It was really nice of them,” Lena said. “It’s surprising because I don’t expect people to do all these things … they do them anyway out of generosity when they’re not required to.”
Joy Rayas, Lena’s mom, said school administrators and teachers had kept in touch with her daughter and allowed her to maintain her honors status, even though she missed finals. Several coaches and school friends have stopped by to visit Lena at their Oak Lawn home.
“They’re just extremely understanding about everything,” Joy Rayas said. “They’re not forgetting her …that goes a long way.”
She said everything has changed for Lena and their family since she was diagnosed with acute lymphocytic leukemia late last year. Lena goes to the Keyser Family Pediatric Cancer Center at Advocate Children’s Hospital in Oak Lawn twice weekly for chemotherapy and check-ups, sometimes spending eight hours there. Rayas said Lena’s best chance for beating the illness is to remain in remission for at least her entire two years and three months of chemotherapy.
Lena also has dealt with difficult side effects from the chemotherapy and medication, including debilitating migraine headaches, loss of appetite and weakness. Her mom needs to be home most of the time, ready to take her daughter to the doctor if she runs a fever.
Still, Lena is thinking ahead. She hopes to become a high school math teacher after college. One credit shy of graduating, she has already been accepted by Saint Xavier University in Chicago after receiving a generous scholarship.
Joy Rayas said she is struck by her daughter’s bravery.
“I am in complete awe of her strength and courage because I watch what she went through with virtually no complaints, crying or ‘I don’t want to do this,'” Joy Rayas said. “In the hospital, her basic complaint was, ‘I just want to go home.'”
More information about the jersey fundraiser is with Gerney at [email protected]
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.Janice Neumann is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.