NORTH ANDOVER — Cancer is a chapter, not the whole story, for three young girls at Legends Gymnastics whose passion for the sport has strengthened them in more ways than can be seen.
Whether on the beam or doing a cartwheel, the sport has landed Savannah Solivan, 14, of North Andover, Avery Callaby, 9, of Haverhill, and Eva Berk, 8, of Haverhill, back on their feet in different ways.
For Solivan, it’s a drive that pushed her through two battles with cancer and an amputation. Avery is back to the active lifestyle she had before leukemia, and gymnastics has made Eva a little girl again and socializing with kids her age.
All three girls are in remission from cancer.
They compete or have fun at a place where their stories have intertwined, connected by the cancer community, yet bonded by their love of gymnastics.
‘I’m winning’
Cancer didn’t win is a message Savannah Solivan repeats as her drive to return to gymnastics ignited her recovery not once, but twice.
By 10, Solivan was a competitive gymnast. An “injury” in 2022 sidelined her. She and her mother, Jillian Gateley, suspected the damage was related to the sport, but her right leg still hurt after the competitive season.
A week before the diagnosis, walking on a boot, Solivan did a handstand.
“I didn’t know that was going to be my last time doing one for the next three years,” she said.
It wasn’t an injury.
It was bone cancer — osteosarcoma. She had a 4.5-inch tumor growing in her right leg.
Solivan underwent 14 rounds of chemotherapy through March 2023. In October 2022, she had her first surgery to remove the tumor. The leg became infected.
“I looked at trying to beat it and to live so I could go back to gymnastics,” Solivan said. “That was a thing to push me through the hard times.”
After 11 failed surgeries, she said she accepted she was never going to be a gymnast again.
But a second opinion from Boston Children’s Hospital left Solivan with a life-altering decision, and hope.
At 11, she chose to amputate her leg.
Solivan was back at gymnastics four months after the amputation two summers ago.
Laura Young, at Legends Gymnastics, became Solivan’s comeback coach as she took private lessons with her to get her skills back to the competitive level.
The gymnastics coaches, including owner Barbara Getchell, accommodated the young girl and supported her.
Solivan recalled it was mentally difficult returning to practice.
“I wanted to be back where I was right away, but I obviously couldn’t be,” she said. “I had to build up tolerance again.
“There were days where my leg hurt or I didn’t know how to use it. But I was excited to be back. I made friends and I got my skills back. I was going to compete again.”
Just as Solivan got her gymnastics life back, she was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia in October 2025.
More cancer treatment wasn’t what she wanted, but gymnastics was a motivator to get through it.
She needed a bone marrow transplant and became very sick that winter. This year, Solivan was in a medically induced coma and suffered a lung injury. She also had back-to-back seizures in June.
But she was determined to get back to the gym despite setbacks.
Her coach stuck with her through the hard times, cautious of her weakened immune system and her body changing because of the bone marrow transplant, in addition to her prosthetic leg.
Solivan found camaraderie in her teammates and coaches and a confidence to be herself during her cancer recovery.
Last Wednesday, Solivan did a front handspring on the tumble track.
The beam is still something that scares her, but she won’t stop trying. She relearned how to get on it and taught her body to rely on shadows and sounds, feeling vibrations because she can’t feel her prosthetic foot.
Solivan said she looks forward to being with her teammates each practice and getting better.
“Before I got any type of cancer, it was just an actual sport,” she said. “After having my leg amputated, two cancers, cancer sucks, but I’m winning.”
‘Getting my strength’
In gymnastics, tumbling is Avery’s favorite thing to do.
If she could do it at her house, she would. But her house isn’t big enough for a full routine.
Avery’s mothers Erin and Krystyna Callagy described her as an active kid from the start who loved to do cartwheels and hanging from the monkey bars. She joined Legends Gymnastics five years ago.
“We knew there was this love and passion from a very young age,” Erin Callagy said. “Her strength has always been impeccable.”
But Avery began to lose that strength after she was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia in February 2024. Chemotherapy, steroids and hospital living diminished her muscle mass rapidly.
“We saw in a blink of an eye, a girl who literally could not sit still … to a girl we had to beg and convince to get out of bed just to use the bathroom,” Erin Callagy said.
She was at gymnastics shortly before getting sick even though she wasn’t feeling well as she always wanted to be at practice.
“A life of gymnastics and sports, everything she was working for, was taken from her,” Krystyna Callagy said.
Avery stayed at Boston Children’s Hospital for 37 days.
When she came home, the family sought a new normal for her. School was the top priority, but Avery wanted more.
When their daughter sat them down and told them she wanted to get back to gymnastics, her parents admitted it scared them.
“It was a passion and drive you cannot explain to someone,” Krystyna Callagy said.
Boundaries and guidelines were set up with safety precautions for her to rejoin the sport.
On Avery’s first day back at Legends Gymnastics, her teammates were waiting outside for her.
“She didn’t care about anything else besides being out there with her friends,” Krystyna said, remembering Avery was limited in what she could do.
The Legends’ coaches showed unwavering support from private lessons to working with her at meets. Her teammates wrote her cards when she was in the hospital.
“They helped get our girl back,” Erin Callagy said.
Now, Avery is at a level three in gymnastics and her sights have no end.
“It’s getting my strength back up,” she said. “Right now, I don’t care what scores I get. I just want to improve my skills, be good at gymnastics and make it to a higher level.”
Some beautiful moments have emerged from the cancer, Erin Callagy said, and three young girls finding the same gymnastics program is one of them.
The Callagys first connected with another Haverhill family battling cancer when Avery was in Boston Children’s Hospital.
That little girl was Eva Berk.
‘A little girl again’
Eva Berk, 8, wasn’t able to do the activities like girls enjoyed such as ballet and gymnastics when she was younger, her mother, Laurie Berk, said.
She was in cancer treatment for most of her early years after being diagnosed at 2-and-a-half years old with acute lymphoblastic leukemia in 2020.
Treatment and relapses kept her away from those activities as she underwent a stem cell transplant from her twin brother Joey in 2022 and later CAR-T therapy.
Berk recalled her daughter saying the first thing she wanted to do, when able, was gymnastics.
“She was craving it for years,” Laurie Berk said.
Berk never was exposed to gymnastics growing up and sought to find where she could take Eva, knowing she needed a place that was flexible and safe because of Eva’s physical limitations.
Berk turned to Facebook, and the overwhelming response pointed her to Legends Gymnastics.
Eva has long-term repercussions from her cancer treatment such as a seizure disorder as a result of a relapse in her brain and spinal column. If she were to get on a high beam, she would need assistance from an adult because she runs the risk of falling 6 feet from a seizure.
The young girl also has nerve damage to her left side where she has a little less muscle control.
Gym owner Getchell sat down with Berk and became invested in the young girl, reassuring both of them that Eva would do just fine.
“‘We can do this,’” Berk remembered Getchell saying.
Getchell worked with Eva for a half hour that first day and it left Eva wanting more.
Eva joined Legends Gymnastics in July where she goes once a week while going to school full time for the first time. She was also matched with a gymnastics instructor and so began a new chapter of her childhood.
“I can do a cartwheel now!” Eva said.
Mats of all sizes and a kick bar now fill their Haverhill home as Eva is “all-in” on gymnastics.
“She was willing to give up other things to do gymnastics,” Berk said.
Her mother said she could see a huge grin beaming from her daughter’s face as she nailed a skill in her first class and the immediate high-fives from her teammates.
In gymnastics, Eva has benefited as much from the physical aspects as the social ones being around kids her age. Gymnasts is the first real activity she’s been able to do with her peers.
In just two months, the energetic and confident girl has already made best friends and is setting new goals for herself, wanting to land in the air bag and climb higher knots.
“It helps me build my muscles,” Eva said.
“She’s in remission and crushing third grade,” Laurie Berk said.
“She’s excited about doing all the normal, fun things 8 year olds love to do now.”