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Ansley McEvoy is seen here in December 2010 after begining chemotherapy treatments for cancer.

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A young fighter, Ansley McEvoy will launch an effort to build The Journey House for families to stay together during treatment that fights cancer.

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For most parents, the day we give birth is both the most stressful and joyful day of our lives. Mom spends hours in agonizing pain while dad does the best he can to not pass out. This is usually followed by an outburst of joy when the doctor gives our newborn a passing grade on the Apgar test and hands us our perfect bundle of joy.

That was the case for the McEvoy family of Mount Pleasant. Their daughter, Ansley, had ten fingers and toes, her color was pink and her heart was thump - thumping correctly. That's why four years later, when she started complaining of stomach pain, the McEvoy's didn't think anything of it. A few days passed, and a fever developed, so they rushed her to the emergency room thinking she had appendicitis.

Soon after arriving at the Medical University of South Carolina, an ultrasound revealed a small pocket of fluid on Ansley's lungs. Two days later, the McEvoy's most dreaded fears were realized when a doctor informed them their baby had something much worse then what they'd thought originally. Ansley had cancer.

"I remember telling myself to wake up from this horrible nightmare," Ansley's mom, Amy McEvoy said. "What if this is all the time I have with her? What if God chooses to take her home?"

Matt and Amy McEvoy continued to fear the worst, especially when the doctors told them Ansley didn't just have cancer, she had stage three Anaplastic Large Cell Lymphoma, a rare form of cancer only diagnosed 50 times per year in the United States.

"It was a very sobering time of realizing I am not in control of this life," Amy said.

Ansley started chemotherapy treatments right away and on Christmas Day 2010, her hair started falling out, a physical sign of the battle ensuing in her body.

"The only way we get through these tough days is remembering we aren't alone," Amy adds.

"On one of our weekly trips to the out-patient chemo clinic at MUSC, our eyes were opened to the effects of these dreadful diseases on both the children and their families," the McEvoy's explained. "The effects can be agonizing: marital stress, siblings' fear, financial stress, isolation from 'normal' life and commutes."

The McEvoy's saw families commuting several hours a day to see their children, collecting debts from hotel stays and restaurants on top of mounting medical bills. After talking it over, the family decided they wanted to do something about it.

"The Journey House will be a home where families can stay together while they fight alongside their child during their disease," Amy says. "We hope for it to be a place where we offer hope, relieve burdens and strengthen families."

Ansley colored a picture in reaction to the families she saw at her weekly treatments.

In her own words, Ansley explains the meaning of her portrait, "When you're having a hard time, come to The Journey House to find helping, loving and joyful people."

That was in March. As Ansley's picture began circulating, a close family friend saw the picture and decided he wanted to help a little girl's dream come true. He launched a campaign to turn Ansley's drawing into the largest mosaic in history.

On Dec. 3, just one year after Ansley was diagnosed with cancer, thousands will cluster into the Blackbaud Stadium on Daniel Island to hold up one of the 1,400 pieces of Ansley's portrait.

The event, aptly called Ansley's Attempt, will launch the idea for the Journey House, a home for the families of critically and chronically ill children in downtown Charleston across from MUSC.

For more information on Ansley's Attempt or to learn how to donate money or time, please go to www.thejourneyhouse.org.