By Jessica Lovell
Guelph Tribune

As she bounces on the sofa, then jumps up to turn a cartwheel across the family room floor, Alysha Dykstra seems much like any other seven-year-old. She’s full of energy, and being indoors on a snowy Sunday morning has her looking a little restless.
For the most part, Alysha is just like other seven-year-olds, except that she knows about things that other kids her age likely can’t even imagine.
At age four, Alysha was diagnosed with a severe and rare form of leukemia. Since then, she has become the poster child – quite literally – for Operation Alysha, an organization dedicated to raising awareness of the importance of donating blood and registering with OneMatch, Canadian Blood Services’ stem cell and bone marrow network.
“Most of our friends had never heard of it,” says Alysha’s dad Mark Dykstra.
As there were no bone marrow matches for Alysha within her family, this little-known network was suddenly very important to them.
It was Alysha who helped them notice how important blood donations also were.Prompted by her parents, Alysha runs to her room to grab her “bravery beads.” She returns with several long strands of brightly coloured and patterned beads, each representing a different medical procedure.
Among them, there’s burgundy for finger pokes, orange for tests and scans, blue for leg needles, and a long black and white striped one for her bone marrow transplant. “This is when I lost my hair (temporarily),” she says, fingering one with a bald smiling face on it. There are also glow-in-the-dark ones for radiation treatments, and many red ones, each representing a blood transfusion.
“One day Alysha took them off and sorted them by colour,” says her mom Karen Dykstra. With all the red beads side by side, the number of blood transfusions – 42 throughout her treatment – was more noticeable, she explains.
Operation Alysha was formed in January 2009, and since that time Alysha has played host at numerous blood-donor clinics and OneMatch swabbing events. She has worked to spread the word by talking to media, appearing in university lecture halls and handing out “business cards” promoting Operation Alysha to her peers. All the while, she was undergoing treatment for cancer.
Her efforts have earned her a Junior Citizen of the Year Award from the Ontario Community Newspapers Association.
“I love it,” Alysha says of the honour, holding the nomination certificate like a gift. She is one of 12 award recipients out of 176 nominees provincewide. Though the award ceremony is not until March, she has already told a few friends, not minding the idea of being in the limelight. “It goes to her head a bit,” says mother Karen with a smile.
At seven, Alysha has been on TV, had her picture in the newspaper more than once and was photographed for Canadian Blood Services’ “Remember Why” advertising campaign. Talking to reporters is not out of the ordinary for her.
“It’s just like talking to anybody,” she says.
But like any other seven-year-old, she also enjoys just being a kid.
“I like to play in the snow and I like to do dance,” she says. “I take piano and I like art.”
Alysha became a talented artist and crafter during her time spent in hospital, which included a 40-day stint where she was not allowed to leave her tiny room, her mom explains as Alysha shows off some of her latest colourful creations. “She’s always got something on the go,” says her mom.
“Her newest thing is starting up a snow-shovelling business,” she says.
But Alysha, who is currently in remission, explains that she is just practising her shovelling skills for the business she plans to start when she is nine.
“Sometimes she has the most wacko ideas,” says her big sister Amy, laughing.
Amy has also learned some things that most 12-year-olds know nothing about as a result of her sister’s illness. She has done projects in school on Alysha’s medical procedures, and she looks forward to promoting blood donation to other students when she gets to high school.
“She’s a miracle in our minds,” says Mark, trying to describe how grateful the whole family is to have Alysha.
The family is still in search of the perfect stem cell match for Alysha, and they are also working to help other families like them.
“You just sort of do what you have to do,” says Karen of how the family has dealt with Alysha’s illness.
“Anybody who’s gone through a challenge like that knows you just set aside the other things you have to do,” says Mark.
Though Alysha is in remission and is looking happy and healthy, she still heads to McMaster regularly for checkups, and must have a bone-marrow biopsy every six months. She says she doesn’t mind the trips.
“It’s fun because I get a treat after the poke,” she says. “And I get to do tons of crafts at the hospital. It’s just my routine.”