Walking inspirations: Two cancer survivors to be honored at Light the Night Walk
By Ben Kaplan
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ANKENY, Iowa (KCCI) — Two heroes from Central Iowa will be honored Saturday night for their bravery and the inspiration they’re giving to others.
Albia fifth-grader Lennox Craig and Ankeny’s Tricia Busch are two cancer survivors who have been named the pediatric and adult Honored Heroes at the annual Light the Night walk in Ankeny on Saturday.
The event is hosted by Blood Cancer United, formerly the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.
Lennox was diagnosed with leukemia when she was just 5 years old, right in the thick of the pandemic.
“It was a whirlwind,” her dad Cory Craig recalls, saying it “just happened all at once.”
Cory tells KCCI that Lennox complained that her arm was asleep. Ten minutes later, he says she came and got them again, and that she became extremely lethargic and stopped responding.
“So, we just literally said, we got to go now,” Cory said.
They rushed to the hospital, and before they knew it, their 5-year-old was life-flighted to Iowa City.
“I remember them telling us that it was oncology and hematology and taking us. I knew instantly; my brother had cancer as a kid. We knew exactly where we were headed. And I remember looking at him and saying, ‘It’s cancer,'” Lennox’s mom, Jessica, said.
The first thing Lennox said she remembers is, “Waking up in a hospital bed.”
Tricia Busch’s journey was similar in that it seemed to come out of nowhere.
“We were watching the Cowboys play the Vikings. We were walking to U.S. Bank Stadium, and I was just struggling to breathe,” Tricia said.
That was in 2022. A trip to urgent care when they returned from Minnesota turned into an immediate visit to the emergency room, where they drained a bag full of fluid from her lungs.
“And sure enough, they found a tumor the size of a softball in my chest,” Tricia said.
The diagnosis was lymphoma. It came five years after she beat thyroid cancer.
Like Lennox, Tricia was in for a multi-year battle against the disease.
The mother of three, who always wanted to be a mom, is now in remission. Lennox is two years off treatment. They will both be at Saturday night’s Light the Night at DMACC in Ankeny, located at 2006 S. Ankeny Blvd.
The Opening Ceremony and Walk begin at 7:30 p.m. There are fireworks afterward.
If you would like to attend, sign up a team, donate or just want to learn more about Light the Night, you can go here: lightthenight.org/events/des-moines
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