Teen makes self-less birthday decision

A local teen makes a self-less choice, "giving back" through her once-in-a-lifetime sweet sixteen bash.

Her name is Ashley Bissell. The bubbly Holyoke Catholic 10th grader asked all of her guests to make a donation to the "Rays of Hope Walk Toward the Cure" cancer organization in lieu of gifts.

Bissell's classmates loved the idea, and two other teens have decided to do the same thing at their upcoming celebrations.

Ashley's parents said the mission of the parochial school is to help the less fortunate and they hope by getting the message out, public school students will follow suit.

"Well, instead of having gifts, I decided for everybody to donate to Rays of Hope, because my mom had breast cancer and she's a breast cancer survivor so I was like alright, I need to do something different, even my friend started the whole entire trend thing, so I was like alright, I need people to donate money to Rays of Hope, cuz i don't need all those gifts," said Ashley herself.

Bissell is happy to report that her mother survived her ordeal with breast cancer, and is now healthy and doing well.

She hopes the money she raised tonight will go a long way towards helping others still fighting the battle.