A Mahoning Township woman is fighting a battle for her life, but she's not fighting it alone.

Kayla Heckman, 20, daughter of Ryan Heckman and stepdaughter of Stacey Heckman, was diagnosed with Acute Myelogenous Leukemia (AML) on June 3, 2013. Her father has pledged that he will not leave her side until she is completely recovered.For the past several months, he has accompanied her to every doctor appointment and procedure she has needed and spends every day generally keeping an eye on her 24 hours a day."I have to have daily appointments for transfusions, blood draws or platelets," she said.Kayla had noticed she bruised easily, plus the skin around her eyes had a yellow tint and the whites of her eyes had broken blood vessels.Those symptoms were enough to encourage her to see Dr. Ken Sharp, who diagnosed her illness after reviewing the results of her tests.Then it was on to treatment."I spent the first seven days of the 32 I spent in Lehigh Valley Hospital in the critical care unit," said Kayla.Her dad said she was in rough shape from the chemotherapy. Her skin actually had a green tinge. That first treatment had caused her liver to shut down and Kayla's lower extremities filled with fluid. In all she had gained 65 pounds.Likely it's Kayla's great physical shape and youth, plus the right drugs, which is helping Kayla pull through.Kayla admits that the type of AML she has means that her treatment isn't as severe as what it could have been.She has subtype emersion 16, which means she will not require a bone-marrow transplant.Her 15 year old brother, Tyler, was willing to be tested to see if he was a match.So far Kayla has had two treatments. Each takes about five days of hospitalization. The treatment requires seven days of cytarabine and three days of ldarubicin injections."I've had bone marrow aspirations, which were negative," she said. Luckily for Kayla, she encountered no pain with those procedures."She's in remission," said her dad, smiling.Meanwhile Kayla has put her life and her job at Mack Trucks on hold and her father is sidelined from working for Livengood Excating until Kayla is cured.To help Kayla combat the high medical bills, friends and family have planned a Poker Run, for cars and motorcycles on Saturday, Sept. 7 at Beaver Run Rod and Gun Club, 676 Steward Creek Road, Lehighton. Registration is from 10 a.m. to noon. There will be five stops along the route. There will also be a Chinese auction, bake sale, raffle and refreshments. The run starts and ends at Beaver Run Rod and Gun Club.Among those on the committee are Dawn Snyder, Ty Poole, from the Boat Yard Restaurant, Weissport, who is organizing the Poker Run; Kelsey Andrews, an 11th grade student at Lehighton Area High School, who is pursuing her senior project; Felicia Steigerwalt, Amber Rodgers, Fallen Kolb, Kelly Fisher and Rochelle Rodgers, along with her parents. For additional information, call Stacey at 484-602-3380.There is also a pending benefit baseball game.Kayla plans to use funds raised for her medical bills and any funds remaining after her bills are paid will be donated to the Leukemia Foundation.Anyone who would like to send a donation to help Kayla with her medical bills should send donations to: Kayla Heckman, 92 Highland Hills Road, Lehighton, Pa. 18235.