Cancer Prevention: Ralston Valley HS Student Wins Video Contest

ARVADA, CO – Ayla Charness, an entering senior at Ralston Valley High School, aspires to make movies, and when she heard about a video competition for a cancer charity in Aurora she knew she should enter.

Catch it in Time's message is all about early detection of cancer symptoms. Her own health issues with a chronic blood disorder showed her first-hand the importance of ‘catching it in time’ before a medical issue becomes more difficult to treat.

At an early age, an early age Charness was diagnosed with Idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP), a blood disorder as well as an immune deficiency.

“If my parents didn’t notice it and the doctor’s didn’t catch it when they did, the ITP would have been much worse,” said Charness in a statement. “I could have bled to death. Even though ITP isn’t a cancer, when I saw the video challenge, I knew that I had to spread the word about catching a diagnosis of cancer early. They are both abnormal health issues. And, I could put my passions to work making a video.”

Charness has been a ‘regular’ at The Children’s Hospital in Denver since childhood and served as Children’s Ambassador at the hospital and on the Children’s Miracle Network. She still takes frequent treatments at the hospital.

She also plays violin at Ralston Valley HS and is currently touring Europe with a youth orchestra, said Catch it in Time spokesman Roger Miller.

The video contest came about because the non-profit organization wanted to expand early cancer detection awareness among younger people, ages 18-35, Miller said.

"With younger people, they can let cancer get to the later stages, because kids believe they're invincible," Miller said. "they say, 'I'm not going to get cancer, so why do I have to worry about it?'"

Charness wrote, produced, directed and narrated the story of her mother’s best friend and college roommate Mindy Heard, who caught her breast cancer at age 24. Taking care of medical issues promptly is often not a priority when many young people are just starting out, and not really thinking about their health, Charness says in the video. But seeking treatment right away after finding a "golf-ball size lump" on her breast helped Heard thrive cancer-free for another three decades, and counting.

Charness found out she had won the award while at a hospital treatment appointment.

“I really wanted to help people fully understand the importance of early detection of health issues and regular doctor visits,” said Charness. “It was so exciting because this was something that I worked really hard on and was very important to me.”

Charness won first place, including a monetary award, which she said she'll use to buy more video equipment. She wants to work in the media industry, hopefully as a film editor, she said.

“[Winning this award] just tells me that I can do this and maybe as a full-time profession.”

“I was impressed with [Ayla's] video entry certainly, but more so by her background, her drive, her enthusiasm and her talents,” said Catch it in Time Executive Director Keith Singer. Singer believes she has a bright future in the industry ahead of her and wants to help her explore all phases of film and video, he said.

You can watch the winning video at catchitintime.org.

The video challenge was so successful, the organization plans to do it again next year, with registration beginning in January 2019, open to all high school and college students.

Image: Ayla Charness receives the Executive Director's Award from Keith Singer, Executive Director of Catch it in Time.