Harlem cheerleader finds spirit on the sideline after cancer diagnosis
Under the Lights
HARLEM, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) - For many teams in the CSRA, football is family.
From the fans to the cheerleaders, players and coaches, they’re there when you need them most.
When Ella Cassedy’s family got news that changed their lives halfway through her freshman year at Harlem, her football family came to help.
There’s nowhere Ella Cassedy would rather be on a Friday night in Harlem.
“I just like being under those Friday Night Lights,” said Cassedy.
It was her wish to cheer for the Red and Black.
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“It makes me feel like I’m like raising their spirits and stuff and helping them believe in themselves that they can win the game,” she said.
But she never knew her teammates would be cheering for her.
“I woke up one night with the jaw pain was just even worse than usual,” said Cassedy. “We found out, I think, two days after that.”
She was diagnosed with T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia.
“You don’t think it’s gonna happen to you until it does,” she said.
You have good days and not-so-good days.
“I couldn’t walk anymore. I couldn’t, like, sit up by myself. I couldn’t stand I couldn’t write,” said Cassedy.
But cheer is what she wanted to do. That overcame what she thought she couldn’t.
“My mom was like, ‘Cheer tryouts are coming up. Like, do you want to do that? Is that something you’re going to want to do this year?’ And I was like, ‘Yes, most definitely,’” she said.
Cheering quickly became her motivation and a way to create normalcy for the high schooler.
“When I get home from chemo, take a nap, and then later on, I would go outside and practice and work out to try to get my muscle strength up,” said Cassedy.
Side-by-side, her why became her teammates.
And over the course of two and a half years, it was enough to score the ultimate touchdown.
“I’m not gonna have to take pills every night like I’ve been having to for the past two and a half years. I’m not gonna feel sick anymore. I’m gonna start feeling better than I do every single day of my life,” said Ella.
Not only did Cassedy cheer through her chemo treatments, but she also worked at a local cafe.
When she didn’t feel good, she rested, but her mom said she never complained.
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