Freshman Allyson Sass loves to play the piano. She plays the violin and the clarinet, and loves to take trips.

Her next trip however, won’t be just for fun.

On May 5, Sass and her mother Anita will travel to Mexico, where Sass will undergo placenta stem cell treatment to slow down her Neurofibromatosis Type II, or NF2.

“All of the options (my neurosurgeon) gave us were risky, and we don’t really want to do any of them,” Sass said. ” That’s why we’re going to do stem-cell treatment. It’s in Mexico because it’s outlawed in the United States.”

In March 2007, Sass was diagnosed with NF2. This genetic disease causes tumors to grow on the cranial and spinal nerves. When she was nine years old, her dad Chris died from NF2 at the age of 38. Her grandfather died from NF2 in 1966 at the age of 33.

“(Allyson’s grandmother) mentioned to me the other day that she’s been dealing with this since she was 19 and she’s 75,” Anita said. “Because her husband had it, and then her son had it and now her granddaughter has it. So you know, that’s just not fun.”

Sass has a one-inch tumor on her brain stem and one on her spine. She suffered a mild stroke in March that affected the left side of her body.

“There is like no room up there for a one-inch tumor,” Sass said.

Even though Sass is dealing with the genetic disorder, she tries to stay positive.

“I’ve figured that it’s easy to get into self-pity, but it’s hard to get out of it,” she said. “It’s really hard to get out of that dump, so you might as well not even go there.”

Sass and her mother have relied heavily on the Baldwin City community in order to raise more than $6,000 for the transplant.

“It’s Mexico, so we have to cover all that,” Sass said.

In order to raise money for the transplant, long time family friend and Baker Administrative Assistant Cheryl McCrary volunteered to help organize a pancake feed, which was Sunday at the Baldwin City Fire Station. Around 450 people from Baker University, Baldwin City, Lawrence and Olathe came to the fundraiser.

“It was wonderful,” McCrary said.  “It was more than I expected. It was more fun. It just met all my expectations and more. I was really, really happy. People gave money and didn’t even stay. And people gave more than $5 and people gave $5, and that was good too.”

University Minister Ira DeSpain has known Sass for most of her life, and knew her dad when he was a student at Baker University. DeSpain said Sass really relies heavily on her faith.

“I know she and her mom are very involved in her local church. Her relationship with God is extremely important to her and it’s been important to her her whole life,” he said. “It’s not my impression that it’s just something she grabbed a hold of when she was sick … her family has been really centrally faith-based for as long as I have known them.”

Anita knows her daughter has been through a lot in her life, but she has always encouraged her mom to be positive.

"She's sitting in the doctors office and she says, ‘just day-by-day, Mom. Day-by-day,'" Anita said. "That's what we have to do for right now, just take it day-by-day. Because if I think about the future, you don't know. And then you're worrying about tomorrow, when tomorrow might not ever come. So then you've worried for nothing."<br/>