Johanna Annuziata and Angela Blazis will talk about Angela's then 4 year old daughter Ava who was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia in 2023 and how Basketball has played such a major role in TEAM AVA Artwork

Help and Hope Happen Here

This Podcast is going to be about Pediatric Cancer and the need to keep the awareness of this terrible disease in the public eye. My plan is to be able to interview a wide spectrum of people who all have a passion and a stake in finding a way to make the lives of these Pediatric Cancer Patients easier. I will interview oncologists, nurses, recovered patients, parents who have had to oversee their children's cancer fight, heads of Pediatric Cancer Foundations and Organizations , and others who would like to use this forum to advocate for these children.

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Help and Hope Happen Here

Johanna Annuziata and Angela Blazis will talk about Angela's then 4 year old daughter Ava who was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia in 2023 and how Basketball has played such a major role in TEAM AVA

February 02, 2026 • Mark Levine • Season 6 • Episode 515

4 year old Ava Blazis woke up on the morning of March 11th 2023 with a very unusual pain in her abdomen which continued to get worse as the day wore on. Her mother Angela brought her to UMass Memorial Medical Center and 3 days later on March 14th, she was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. Angela and Ava then spent the next 65 days at Boston Children's Hospital while Ava was undergoing treatment. Meanwhile Angela's sister Johanna Annuziata got busy with helping to look after Ava's brother Michael, and also helping to start Team Ava, an unofficial Non-Profit, which has already raised over $300,000 to help in the cause of Pediatric Cancer. Ava is now 7 years old and is doing well physically as she has been in remission since May of 2025.