Ethan was born on November 24th 2009 to Jennifer and Merrill VanLeuven. He was just a regular kid, learning and growing. Then when he was nearly 2 years old, everything changed.
Ethan was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia when he was 21 months old. Ethan's cancer was aggressive. He fought his cancer for three years, including two relapses, a bone marrow transplant, and three experimental treatments - one of which was in Seattle.
After 3 years of treatment, Ethan was put on hospice on October 15th, 2014. It had been a long, hard fight for Ethan as well as his family. They wanted to do something to celebrate with him during his last days.
Ethan loved Christmas, and he had been looking forward to his birthday since his previous birthday. When Ethan went on hospice, his family decided to celebrate all the holidays with him in one week. The week before Ethan passed away, they were able to celebrate Halloween, his 5th birthday (a month early), and Christmas all in the same week. People local and worldwide celebrated with the family and helped them celebrate. They had neighbors open their doors for them 10 days early so they could go trick-or-treating. For Ethan's birthday, there was a parade held down the family's street in Ethan’s honor. He was “knighted”, and a neighbor made a special Batman cake for him. For Christmas Eve (on October 24th), Santa came in a fire truck, FM100 played 3 hours of Christmas music, and the yard was full of carolers and a live nativity. People around the world decorated their houses with Christmas lights. The family even got to ride around the neighborhood on a horse-drawn carriage to look at the lights. Christmas day was celebrated on October 25th, and the week of holidays came to a close.
Three days after Ethan's Early Christmas, on October 28th, he passed away in his home surrounded by family. He is missed by his family and so many others, but they are grateful for the time they were able to spend with him, and what they learned from him. Our goal is to honor Ethan's memory by supporting other kids with the same love and care he received.
One year after Ethan's passing, his oldest brother Brayden was preparing the final step of becoming an Eagle Scout- the project. Brayden, along with lots of help from friends and family, decided to honor Ethan by putting on a soccer tournament and gathering toys to donate to Primary Children's Hospital where Ethan had spent much of his life. 27 teams participated in the 3v3 tournament, and over 1400 toys were donated. Seeing the overwhelming community support, the family decided to make the tournament an annual tradition.
From 2015 onward an annual 3v3 soccer tournament was held in Ethan's honor. Each year a new child was selected as the recipient of the tournament's proceeds. More and more teams were participating, so the decision was made to go official. Ethan's Super Angels was registered as a nonprofit in 2019. The organization's reach has exploded ever since. The nonprofit now partners with Real Salt Lake and holds the yearly soccer tournament indoors at their world-class training facility. Ethan's Super Angels has also partnered with other local charities ranging from high schools to neighborhood fundraisers. To date, the organization has raised tens of thousands of dollars for kids fighting childhood cancer.
Ethan's Super Angels is committed to making a positive impact in our community. Through our various events and fundraisers, we strive to help children and families in need. We invite you to explore our website and learn more about how you can join us in making a difference.
Registration for the 2024 3v3 Soccer Tournament is open! Click here to go to the tournament page.