Like a spark from Ada's spirit
Where hope ignites and love fuels the fight against childhood cancer
Our story
Adalyn “Ada” Rose Swenson, age 5, passed away on July 22nd, 2023 while being snuggled by her parents after a 14-month battle with leukemia. A parent should never have to write those words so we started Ada’s Spark to help shorten the path to cures and to support bereaved families.
Ada had a good life, with lots of friends, family, joy, and fun experiences. Since her diagnosis in May of 2022 she had spent around 250 days in a hospital and closer to 300 days away from home (i.e. not inpatient but out of our home for care). For the vast majority of that time she was having a ball including laughing, playing with nurses, playing with hospital dogs, having school in the hospital, finding the messiest toys/paint/sand and enjoying them, exploring hospitals by foot/bike/wagon/toy fire truck and talking to strangers, playing with us and making us smile, etc. This experience was/is undoubtably hard, but Ada taught us how to live a longstanding family mantra of Tami and Joel’s: “Life isn’t about waiting for the storm to pass…It’s about learning to dance in the rain.”
Ada was a loving, funny, smart, feisty, and determined little girl who would have done great things in this world. Her body can’t do those things anymore but we carry her spirit within us and fight for change in her memory.
To learn more about Ada read her obituary or read about her cancer journey.
Impact Stories
These fun toys truly make such a difference to so many of our patients' experience here at the hospital, providing comfort, joy and a new way to scare staff or make a mess. Thank you for your generous donation to support our patients and families around the holidays. We're so appreciative of your efforts, and please know the great impact your donation had! We're so honored that you chose to give back to AFCH patients, families and staff in honor of your Ada."
– American Family Children’s Hospital Child Life staff regarding Ada’s Holiday Toy Drive, 2023
THANK YOU again for your wonderful and generous support of Dare to Dream Days ❤ Your efforts and support provided motivation for our donors and fundraisers during the week to activate on such an important message. We appreciate you and feel honored to continue to keep Ada’s spark present in our work, thank you for sharing your family with us.
– The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society staff regarding Ada’s Spark’s $10K donation to The Dare to Dream Project, 2025
THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS
