Deserving Family Receives 2014 Mazda3 on ELLEN DEGENERES SHOW

Ellen DeGeneres and Mazda teamed together to help a deserving family by surprising them with a brand new Mazda3 and $10,000 to help cover medical expenses. The Shepherd family is from Ashland, Oregon. Alex's mother wrote to The Ellen DeGeneres Show explaining the toll the five hour trek to Portland a few times a week takes on her family. In an effort to help the Shepherds make the long journey to the hospital for Alex's radiation treatments, DeGeneres and Mazda offered the family a brand new fully loaded red Mazda3 to make their ride to the hospital more comfortable.

"We are proud to be partnered with a company that is dedicated to giving back as we are," Jim Ellis Mazda General Manager Stacey Ellis Hodges said.

Alex Shepherd enjoyed skiing, hiking, and bicycling before being diagnosed with grade 3 Anaplastic Astrocytoma. He has undergone four brain surgeries and 33 radiation treatments to help shrink his tumors.

Alex was home with his father on April 15, 2013, when he began to suffer from a grand mal seizure. He was taken to the hospital where they found a lesion on his brain and pathology later discovered it was cancer.

Shepherd suffers from a type of Central Nervous System (CNS) tumor that forms uncontainable astrocyte cells. According to the American Brain Tumor Association, Astrocytomas are masses that form from the astrocytes that connect the supportive tissue of the brain. An Astrocytoma occurs when cells grow uncontrollably and form a tumor.

DeGeneres invited the Shepherd family to come to her show and share Alex's story with the world. She recognized the financial strain that driving back and forth for Alex's medical treatments were placing on the Shepherd family, so she surprised the family with a new Mazda3 and $10,000 in cash to help cover some of Alex's medical expenses.

Alex Shepherd is looking forward to completing his radiation treatments and hopes to become a surgeon one day.

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