Kaylee is very sensitive and sweet. She’s known at school for always wanting to help others. She can be shy at times, so we’re working on building her confidence. She’s currently taking Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu classes 4 times a week. She loves swimming and doing crafts and playing with her cousins. She is obsessed with her grandmother and calls her every day on Facetime. She’d rather hang out at home than go shopping. Kaylee is our whole world.
Kaylee was diagnosed with Very High Risk Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia when she was 18 months old. She started getting bruises that I noticed weren’t going away, and they had lumps under them. Her appetite had also started to diminish and then one day when I was changing her diaper, I noticed that she had these purple spots on her chin.
Kaylee went through 2.5 years of chemo. She was hospitalized for the first 3.5 months of treatment due to life-threatening infections that she incurred because of her low immune system. We almost lost her at one point, but thank God we live in the Houston area with some of the best cancer hospitals in the country! When Kaylee is older, she will have to have plastic surgery to repair some damage from one of the infections that she had.
Kaylee also had whole brain radiation done when she was 2 years old because, at diagnosis, she had a cluster of leukemia cells in one of her eye sockets. The only struggles that we’ve faced have actually appeared recently – we’ve noticed that she has deficits with her short-term memory and some processing skills. Last school year was quite a struggle, but we’re hoping for a better year this year!
Kaylee’s cancer completely changed everything. We were living in an older house that needed work and when she got sick we knew we had to get out of that house! So, we built a new house. I was working 2 different part-time jobs and I had to quit both of them to be her full-time caretaker. We missed SO much with our friends and families because her counts were always so low that we couldn’t risk taking her anywhere. We lived in a hospital room for 3.5 months and then we were back in the hospital so many times over the first year and a half of treatment for allergic reactions, fevers, chemo, and more. We did outpatient chemo 3 times a week and a lot of the time I had to take her by myself or with my in-laws because my husband had to go to work. We had always wanted more kids, but after Kaylee got sick we decided that we wouldn’t because we could never go through that again (although, we now have an almost 2 year old ❤️).
I found this, so I think I’ll share it. It was written in 2018. Kaylee will now be celebrating 5 years off treatment at the end of this month and will officially be considered a cancer SURVIVOR!!!
“Kaylee has fought really hard, and by the grace of God and the AMAZING doctors at Texas Children’s and MD Anderson, she SURVIVED. It definitely wasn’t easy. Now, we are almost 1 year off treatment – literally the fastest year of our lives. We are so grateful and blessed that Kaylee Kicked Cancer and that she is a Healthy and Happy little girl!”
Dylan is a fighter! He is a happy little boy, always, no matter what happens. He loves to play with dinosaurs and monster trucks. He is very resilient!
Dylan was diagnosed with B-cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia in October 2020. At the time of his diagnosis, he had been sick all the time with high fevers, bruises, and mouth sores.
He has had a lot of hospitalizations and emergency visits due to chemotherapy and infections. There are emotional and economic challenges because of missing work a lot. Our lives have changed dramatically because we have to be more isolated from people and Dylan is very social which has been hard for him.
We never thought that cancer would affect us but we are a strong family and we have faith and hope.
Brayden loves dinosaurs, monster trucks, and animals (especially sharks). He is always running around smiling and laughing. He loves to show everyone his toys and watch the monster truck rallies on tv. He also likes to play outside and go to the park.
Brayden was diagnosed with B-Cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia in May 2022. Before he was diagnosed, we noticed Brayden was experiencing fatigue, bruising, nose bleeds, loss of appetite, and was very irritable. He had trouble walking and keeping his balance.
He has had many spinal taps and 3 bone marrow biopsies. He has had 3 port-related surgeries: one to place a port, another to take out the infected port, and another to put the port back in. We struggle with constantly coming to the hospital for treatment due to his father working and we live 120 miles away.
This has changed our lives significantly. Due to Brayden’s weakened immune system and extended hospital stays we are not able to do the things we used to. We also had a 3-week-old when Brayden was diagnosed with cancer.
Isla is funny, smart, and sassy. She loves animals, especially puppies. She is a big helper and loves to help with the laundry and dishwasher. She enjoys baby dolls, stickers, books, and music.
Isla was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia on August 31st 2022. Before she was diagnosed, she was feeling extra tired and looked pale. On the first day of school, her toddler room teachers mentioned their concerns. I took her to walk-in care hours at the pediatrician that evening and she was in surgery to place her port the very next day.
Isla has had a port placement surgery as well as two bone marrow aspirations. She currently receives weekly chemotherapy treatments and spinal taps. She’s had three hospital stays in the past two months. We are careful about germs but our oncology team recommended keeping life as normal as possible right now.
Cancer has changed our lives significantly. We have two older children, five and three years old. It’s difficult to balance the attention Isla needs while making sure our big kids still feel seen, heard, and loved. We also have had to make changes to our work schedules to accommodate treatment and taking our other children to preschool, dance class, etc.
Our sweet girl has been poked and prodded weekly since we began this cancer journey 2 months ago. She’s been so resilient and I’m constantly in awe of her.
Reznor (Rez) is such a sweet little boy. He loves his blankies and stuffed babies. Since he’s not active at the moment he stays inside on the couch playing games and watching videos on his tablet.
Rez was diagnosed with Leukemia in July 2020. Before he was diagnosed, my very active baby started sleeping all day and was too tired to get out of bed. He was also very pale, bruised easily, and kept getting fevers.
Rez has been through it all; blood and platelet transfusions, spinal taps, bone marrow aspirations, port placement, ultrasound and cardiology appointments, and more. He has anxiety and definitely some PTSD. He’s scared to do anything related to going to the doctor. He tires easily and is not very active. He also gets sick in the car.
I constantly stay in a state of fear and stress. I stay home with him and live off my child support so it has been a huge financial burden for us.
Elyse is a very outgoing little girl that loves everything pink!! She also loves animals.
Elyse was diagnosed with B-Cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia in June of 2021. She has been in remission since July and has been receiving treatment since then as well. She’s currently in maintenance and will be in treatment until August 20th of 2023.
We were on vacation just days before her diagnosis when I noticed bruises on her legs and on her side. We decided to have her checked out and were informed two days later that she had cancer.
Elyse receives chemo through her port. She has lumbar punctures every three months and she has endured three bone marrow biopsies. We were on lockdown for the first year of her treatment and are now finally beginning to get back to living life again.
Elyse is such an inspiration to all of us and has had the best attitude and outlook throughout all of her treatment.
