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From THON To The Altar, Cancer Can’t Separate Ashley & Jared Murosky

Ashley and Jared Murosky’s Penn State love story started when Ashley Murosky was a freshman studying kinesiology and Jared Murosky was a sophomore studying golf management. The pair met at a party with some mutual friends, and they’ve been inseparable ever since.

During their freshmen years, both Ashley and Jared Murosky were involved in THON as students. However, during Ashley Murosky’s sophomore year of college at Penn State, she was diagnosed with stage II non-small cell lung cancer.

“I was scared and unsure of what was going on. It’s weird because looking back at it, a lot of people tell me that not everybody would’ve stayed with her,” Jared Murosky said. “We were in college and she got cancer. No one would’ve blamed me for going my own way, but it never crossed my mind. It didn’t seem like an option.”

After her diagnosis, Ashley Murosky became a THON kid at the age of 19.

“I didn’t even know being a THON kid at 19 was a thing. So when they told me about that, it was kind of crazy to go from being involved to now this all of a sudden,” she said. “When you’re a college student, you know that you’re doing a good thing, but seeing it from the other side and really seeing all these families and knowing how beneficial the money is and all the research and what the money that goes toward, you truly know how important it is.”

“It completely makes you realize how vital THON is, how important, and how amazing it really is because now you’re experiencing the necessity of it,” she continued.

Jared Murosky echoed Ashley Murosky’s sentiments, noting that it was different to see the other side of the philanthropy.

“It was weird,” he said. “My freshman year, I saw the student side of it. I was in the stands for a little while. But then after with her, it was interesting seeing the other side of it with the families.”

Ashley Murosky went through chemotherapy and radiation and was in remission by June 2013.

In 2014, Jared Murosky was a senior, and Ashley Murosky was a junior. Jared Murosky planned to propose on stage at THON, but it didn’t end up happening because the THON director told him he couldn’t.

In June 2014, Jared Murosky proposed on the Maid Of The Mist at Niagara Falls. They moved to Scottsdale, Arizona, together and started planning on getting married in State College.

Ashley Murosky had two bridal parties, one thrown by the groom’s mom in Erie and one thrown by her family in northeast Pennsylvania. She had her yearly appointment at Hershey in between the bridal parties, and that’s when doctors told her that her cancer had come back. She had tumors in her lungs that spread to her vertebrate and to her brain, which was causing headaches.

“We were living in Scottsdale. We basically just packed up and moved back here,” she said. “Jared was still back in Arizona, and I called him and told him what the scan said. He basically grabbed a bag, put the dog in the car, and drove here.”

Despite the diagnosis coming three months before their wedding, the pair knew they still wanted to get married. They found an apartment nearby and Jared Murosky found a job. They kept their wedding date and got married at General Potter Farm. Ashley Murosky was having a lot of side effects from all of the treatments but was only worried about getting married and having a great time.

The wedding ended up being a lot bigger than they planned, and a lot of happy tears were shed during the celebration.

In 2022, Ashley and Jared Murosky adopted their son, Miles. He’ll be three in March and experienced his first Penn State game at this year’s White Out. They plan on taking Miles to experience THON one day.

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About the Author

Tia Kaschauer

Tia is a freshman from Pittsburgh, PA majoring in photojournalism! She's a big fan of sports, loud music, and lemonade. To see some of her cool photos, Instagram: @TK_Media412, to get in touch, email: [email protected].

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