Ashland Times Gazette
ASHLAND - Five people stood waiting in the parking lot of Union Lofts Apartments on Thursday afternoon, bundled to stay warm in the wintry chill. Chatting, they looked to the northeast, toward Sugarbush Drive, and they listened for sirens.
It was Ashlee Younce s 16th birthday, and she and her family were waiting for a special celebration to begin.
Just around the corner, in the parking lot of the Ashland Home Depot, family friend Patrick Buckley of Elyria was watching as vehicles assembled to parade past Ashlee s home.
Ashlee has end-stage renal failure, and is waiting for a kidney transplant from a deceased donor. In the meantime, her mother, Becki Younce, takes her to Akron Children s Hospital three times a week for dialysis an hour to get there, four hours at the hospital and another hour home.