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'Amazing Gray' Inspiring Family During Fight Against Leukemia

By Tracey Myers, NHL, 11/07/19, 3:15PM PST

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2-year-old girl, daughter of Sharks employees, dropped first puck at Hockey Fights Cancer night.

Graysen Hooper has been through so much.

The 2-year-old girl from San Jose, California, was diagnosed with B-Cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia in November 2018. She endured an intense, eight-month treatment that included two trips to the hospital each week, weekly intravenous chemotherapy and a monthly spinal tap to test her bone marrow and insert chemo into her spine. The treatments ravaged her immune system; outside of her hospital visits, Graysen couldn't go anywhere in public.

But she's battled. Now in the next phase of her treatment and her immune system stronger, the little girl nicknamed "Amazing Gray," joined by parents Patrick and Heather and baby sister Quinn, dropped the puck when the Sharks hosted Hockey Fights Cancer night against the Vancouver Canucks at SAP Center on Saturday.

"It was cool," said Patrick, digital director for the Sharks. "We did some fun little practice routines at home, but it was a wild card to see how she was going to perform. We stepped on the carpet and weren't sure how she'd react, but she did great. It was awesome to see her walk out there and recognize the moment, and her little smile as [Sharks captain] Logan Couture rounded the corner was awesome to see."

Graysen, Patrick and Heather also will be at SAP Center when the Sharks host the Chicago Blackhawks on Tuesday (10 p.m. ET; NBCSN, NBCSCH+, NHL.TV). Heather, director of the Sharks Foundation, said Graysen has been resilient.