By Heidi Fenton
The Grand Rapids Press
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (AP) -- Ashley Hendrick earned an athletic scholarship at Aquinas after having her leg amputated in high school.
The decision would be difficult for an adult to face, let alone a child: sacrifice a leg for future health, or face years of surgeries with no guarantee of a positive outcome.
Ashley Hendrick chose to have her left leg amputated as a school junior diagnosed with cancer.
She knew her life would forever change. In the end, it came down to tennis -- the sport she had played since childhood and couldn't imagine living without.
Almost six years later, Hendrick, 22, is reflecting back on a college tennis career. She not only learned to play again, she earned a scholarship to compete at Aquinas College with a prosthetic leg.
Hendrick recently shared her journey to find wellness again, at the American Cancer Society's "Choose You" luncheon. The event encouraged women to allow time for themselves amid the balance of family, work and personal life.
Ninety-five percent of women say they need to improve their healthy lifestyle, the cancer society says.
Hendrick seemed like a natural fit as a speaker.
"She didn't let her diagnosis get her down," said Kyle Amanda Dutkiewicz, a specialist of distinguished events for the cancer society. "She's been making really strong choices that are beyond her age, and continues to do so."
Hendrick thinks back on her junior year in high school and the tough reality she faced.
After doctors found cancer in her left leg, they informed her family she had a choice: amputate her left leg above the knee or likely face a life without tennis.
Hendrick knew the answer. Her leg would go. She couldn't give up the sport she lived for and dreamed of continuing to play in college.
Her parents took a little more convincing, she says.
"There was no way we were going to tell her what to do. We wanted her to be a real part of it," her father, Jerry Hendrick recalled. It was a decision he says his daughter faced with a strength he and his wife struggled to find at the time.
As a child "scared to death" of shots and needles, she faced the cancer with bravery and took the reality as what it was.
"She just never did the 'why me, why did this happen to me, this isn't fair'-- she never did that," her father said. "That just wasn't how she thought about it."
Hendrick went through with the surgery on Nov. 23, 2006. The day came just three months after her cancer diagnosis and is one she'll never forget.
"It became more real for me," she says, after the surgery. Hendrick recalled her thoughts going into the operating room: "When I leave this surgery I'm no longer going to have two legs, I'm no longer going to be able to do things normally that I was used to."
That's quite a bit for a teenager to stomach.
She missed her junior year tennis season, but knew she had to finish out her high school career. Hendrick was fitted with a prosthetic leg and learned to play again over the next year.
Failure wasn't an option.
"I just wanted to prove everyone wrong. I was just so determined during that time to do it that nothing was going to stop it," she said.
Jerry Hendrick, a long-time men's varsity tennis coach at Aquinas College, spent weeks hitting balls to her as she gained strength and learned new playing techniques.
During those first weeks, Hendrick stood in place as he hit balls to her; she had plenty of work just building her strength in hand movements. She learned a combination run-skip that allowed her to move on court.
Her first game after the surgery, the crowd support was overwhelming, she recalls.
"It was really one of the coolest experiences. My parents were crying."
Hendrick graduated last weekend from Aquinas College and now is a tennis instructor at Blythefield Country Club in Belmont, contemplating a career in social work or public speaking. She earned an award as female senior athlete of the year -- a further testament to her hard work.
Hendrick thinks back to her days as a shy high schooler and realizes how far she has come.
"I learned that I'm a lot stronger than I thought I was," she says. "I've kind of been given a platform to share my story . I don't want to take that platform for granted."
To those struggling with difficult life choices, Hendrick offers her advice: "If you're not positive about the experience or as positive as possible, it's not going to help at all," she says. "I had to want to win."
Published: Wed, Jun 6, 2012
