Adalyn “Ada” Rose Swenson, age 5, passed away on July 22nd, 2023 while being snuggled by her parents after a 14-month battle with leukemia. A parent should never have to write those words so we started Ada’s Spark to help shorten the path to cures and to support bereaved families.

Ada had a good life, with lots of friends, family, joy, and fun experiences. Since her diagnosis in May of 2022 she had spent around 250 days in a hospital and closer to 300 days away from home (i.e. not inpatient but out of our home for care). For the vast majority of that time she was having a ball including laughing, playing with nurses, playing with hospital dogs, having school in the hospital, finding the messiest toys/paint/sand and enjoying them, exploring hospitals by foot/bike/wagon/toy fire truck and talking to strangers, playing with us and making us smile, etc. This experience was/is undoubtably hard, but Ada taught us how to live a longstanding family mantra of Tami and Joel’s: “Life isn’t about waiting for the storm to pass…It’s about learning to dance in the rain.”

Ada was a loving, funny, smart, feisty, and determined little girl who would have done great things in this world. Her body can’t do those things anymore but we carry her spirit within us and fight for change in her memory.

To learn more about Ada read her obituary or read about her cancer journey. Read about Ada's Spark, Inc. here.

3rd Annual Ada's Forever 5K (2026)

Running for Hope, Remembering Ada

Team Members