September means a lot of different things — cooler weather, football season and back to school time just to name a few.

However, September is also set aside each year to raise awareness for a disease that affects hundreds of thousands of families across the world each year. This disease is mysterious, but not impossible to treat. However, despite advancements in treatment options, it still claims the lives of many children each year and is the second leading cause of death for children ages 5 to 14. Those who survive often live with side effects stemming from the disease for the rest of their lives including infertility, heart problems and bone issues to name a few.

What is this rare disease you may ask? Well, the not-so-funny thing is that this disease actually isn’t all that rare. Every day, 43 children receive a pediatric cancer diagnosis in the United States, yet only three new medications have been developed to treat childhood cancers in the past 20 years. You probably know someone who knows someone who’s been diagnosed with childhood cancer or maybe have heard about someone in your community who has.

Childhood cancer doesn’t discriminate — it occurs equally across different races, different socioeconomic classes and different sexes. It’s unpredicatable and effects more people than you would imagine — even the daughter of 2008 Fittest Man on Earth, Jason Khalipa.

Khalipa is a lovable Cali-native. He’s the owner of NorCal CrossFit and has competed at the CrossFit Games as an individual an astounding seven times, taking the title in 2008. Khalipa went team in 2015, competing on the NorCal team and finishing in tenth place. To say he’s well-known in the CrossFit community is an understatement, so when his daughter was diagnosed with cancer at only four years old earlier this year, the reverberation was felt literally all over the CrossFit world.

“She was having leg pain and several ear infections over and over again,” Khalipa said. “She had some signs of bruising, so we had taken her to the doctors and long story short, they finally took some blood work and we got a call telling us to go to Stanford ER. We didn’t leave for at least a month.”

Ava was diagnosed with ALL leukemia. Khalipa and his wife Ashley were understandably devastated but rallied almost immediately to fight with their daughter. Less than 24 hours after he announced the news via social media, Khalipa posted a photo of adorable Ava in a hospital bed, thanking his friends and fans for support. It was then that he coined the hashtag #AvaKhalipaWILLwin

“The outpouring – it’s been incredible,” Khalipa said. It’s been really really really incredible. I was at the (2016) Games for example — for the first time not competing — and you just had hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of people telling me how they pray for our daughter every night and how much we mean to them. It really put things in perspective.”

Khalipa’s determination is one of his trademarks as a successful CrossFit athlete. However, his positive attitude despite his family enduring a terrible and frightening ordeal is inspiring.

“A lot of people don’t want to talk about it because it’s so heavy,” Khalipa said. “There’s a whole world that’s exactly what people think – very, very depressing – but there’s a lot of good stories and that’s what I want to get out there because people aren’t ready for the tough stories. There’s a lot lot lot of negative that goes on, but unless we share it in a positive light it’ll never get the attention it deserves.”

According to Khalipa, he has a lot to be positive about. Although Ava will continue treatment through March 2018, her diagnosis of ALL leukemia is considered very treatable, with a survival rate close to 100 percent.

“Maybe it’s because ALL is such a treatable form of cancer, but I feel like there are families who are really suffering and need support,” Khalipa said. “We are so blessed in so many ways and I want to make sure that we pass that forward.”

What are some ways Khalipa is passing on that blessing, so to speak? One will take place this weekend — the Ava Will Win Blood Drive will take place at NorCal CrossFit on September 24. Blood transfusions play a huge role in defeating cancer and many children require multiple transfusions throughout the course of their treatment. His gym also now donates proceeds from their Box to Business seminars to pediatric cancer-oriented charities.

But Khalipa is also now looking at different and bigger ways he can raise awareness for childhood cancer. You can look for his comeback during the 2017 CrossFit Open.

“Ava is doing pretty well and I feel like I’m at a place where I want to push myself physically and mentally and overcome this,” Khalipa said. “I also want to do this because I want to raise more awareness for pediatric cancer and one way I can do that is to continue to grow my microphone. At Regionals, our entire team can be rocking bright gold shirts. I just want to find a positive way to shine light on a negative thing so that when people think about what they donate to, they’ll think of this. Everyone is touched by something.”

Khalipa encourages people to be aware and to donate blood not just during the month of September, but year-round in order to help children and families who are battling courageously against this monster of a disease. In the meantime, he and his wife Ashley are doing everything they can to give Ava a normal five-year-old experience — with just a few perks.

“Overall, we’re just feeling really grateful,” Khalipa said. “We’ve gone to Disneyland a lot of times, we’ve taken her to the Ritz Carlton a few times and we’re going to New York City so that she can remember these times not as a five-year-old who had cancer, but as a five-year-old who got to meet Gordon Ramsey. Cancer doesn’t define who she is, it’s something she’s going through and it’s going to impact her life for sure but I think it’s going to impact her life in a positive way. I think it will drive her and make her stronger.”

However, Khalipa also acknowledges that Ava is one of many children fighting currently and not everyone is quite so lucky.

“One kid a week gets diagnosed with ALL just at Stanford (Hospital). It’s the real deal,” Khalipa said. “People don’t need to be scared to talk about it. They just need to understand that it’s heavy, but it’s reality.”