Aleya Cárdenas Valdovinos
Aleya Cárdenas Valdovinos was born on May 30, 2020 and completed her family as the baby of five sisters! Aleya was born an old soul and from the start was such a special gift to her mom and big sisters and quickly became the center of their world. Aleya is very bright, brave and caring! She has a gigantic heart for others and a great sense of humor. She adores the Frozen princesses Elsa and Anna and is crazy about Bluey.
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She loves all the girl things but is also crazy about playing with slime & enjoys playing Roblox and other games on her iPad with her big sisters.
A girl with impeccable taste, Aleya loves shopping at Target and on a beautiful day, she loves going the park to enjoy the playground. A great night out for Aleya includes a trip to her favorite restaurant, Olive Garden.
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Aleya has a gift for making people feel special and has a joy inside that just radiates out to everyone she meets.
May 30, 2020-May 20, 2025
Diagnosis
In the fall of 2024, Aleya's mom Erica began to notice that she was experiencing a sudden loss of balance and coordination. This always chatty little girl also developed significant changes in her speech and her talking because very delayed. Clearly something was wrong but no one in her family could ever have imagined the reality they would soon face. Mom took Aleya to the hospital for testing and on September 20, 2024 they received the devastating news that Aleya had a tumor in her brainstem and was diagnosed with DIPG. At just four years old, she began a course of radiation in hopes of shrinking her tumor and delaying regrowth and Aleya and her family began to focus on living each day to the absolute fullest. Luckily for Aleya that was already her standard practice!
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​Her mom has been so thankful for the treatment and support she has received at Louise Packard Children's hospital at Stanford University. While the future is not ever certain with a disease as aggressive as DIPG, Aleya has faced each day with a God-given wisdom well beyond her years, a joyful and completely infectious spirit and her signature sense of humor. Erica is sharing Aleya's story now in order to bring more awareness to a disease that she had never even know existed before her sweet girl started this battle and in doing so hopes to help other families who might be walking the same path see that there is still hope (and a little silliness) to be found each day. ​​
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Aleya has the heart of a warrior in a tiny body and is inspiring everyone she meets with her faith and her absolute love for life and the Archer Foundation is proud to stand with her family in faith and hope for more good days.
In loving memory of Aleya.
