Estimated read time: 4-5 minutes
- Hallie Young, 21, was diagnosed with leukemia after experiencing severe symptoms in October.
- The Utah softball community launched "Rally for Hallie" to support her treatment.
- Over $12,000 has been raised through a GoFundMe* campaign for Hallie's medical expenses.
PLEASANT GROVE —The softball community is rallying together after the sudden leukemia diagnosis of one of their own.
Hallie Young, 21, was playing in a league softball tournament on Oct. 26, when she suddenly started to have a really bad headache. As a former collegiate softball player, she was accustomed to pushing through pain, and so she did just that.
"Hallie played through the softball tournament and even went back to work," said her mother, Leslie Young. "The headache lasted for about three or four days. Things seemed to subside, and then she started to get a sore throat."
Thinking it was just a bad case of the flu or strep, Hallie Young went to urgent care for a strep test, which came back negative. After several days of enduring the constant headache, increasingly sore throat and fever, Hallie Young knew she needed to get some help.
"She called me from work and said, 'I can't. I can't do this,'" Leslie Young recalled. "She slept at my house the night of her birthday on Nov. 3, and I gave her some tea and nothing helped. She woke me up in the middle of the night, saying she couldn't handle the pain anymore. … I said, 'Do you need to go to the ER?' and she said, 'Yes,' so we went to the ER at about 5:30 in the morning on Nov. 4."
Still believing the headache and sore throat were due to the flu or tonsillitis, Hallie Young and her mom waited to see what treatment would be needed to get her feeling better. Instead, they were met with unexpected and heartbreaking news.
"They took her blood work and when they came back in, the doctor started talking to us about a possibility of leukemia," Leslie Young said. "Her blood work came back with a really low white blood cell count, and her blood cells were misshapen. We waited all day for the results to come back, and at about 2 o'clock in the afternoon, the doctor confirmed that Hallie had leukemia. We drove her up to LDS Hospital, and we've been here ever since."
Hallie Young was diagnosed with lymphoblastic leukemia, which is a fast-growing cancer of the bone marrow that affects white blood cells. Due to its rapid spread, she immediately started chemotherapy.
"We came here on Nov. 5th, and then by the 7th, Hallie did her first round of chemo," Leslie Young said.
The quick onset of the cancer and rapid and aggressive treatment have given the Youngs very little time to pause and process what has been happening. Hallie Young said that even so, she is doing her best to accept where she's at right now.
"A lot of it is just out of my control," Hallie Young said. "It's definitely hard because you lose all your independence. There are people coming in throughout all hours in the night to take vitals, and you are hooked up to machines. It's just kind of like nothing is on your own time anymore."
"Cancer is not discriminating," Leslie Young added. "It's not old people. It's not even just the unhealthy. We're talking about a college athlete who is very active and very healthy. It just doesn't discriminate. It could happen to anybody."
'Rally for Hallie'
While Hallie Young is fighting her new battle with leukemia, the softball community that she grew up in is fighting to help her by starting a "Rally for Hallie" campaign. Many have worn orange ribbons at games, which is the color for leukemia awareness, and many have donated to a GoFundMe* campaign that has raised over $12,000.
"Hallie grew up playing travel ball for several different teams," said Leslie Young, who is also the head softball coach at Pleasant Grove High School. "She was always a huge standout in softball. She got a full-ride to play at Snow College, and softball has always been a big passion of hers.
"The softball community is a pretty tight, small world," she continued. "Even though a lot of times we're rivals, it's been really touching to see everybody rally behind and be supportive of Hallie."
Hallie Young was still at LDS Hospital early this week but was hoping to be well enough to return home and continue treatments for the next couple of years.
"It's a very hard place for a young person who should just be building their life to be in," Leslie Young said. "This is gonna become our normal for a minute, and then it will become our past. We're gonna have to walk through hell to get there, though."
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