Diego is a very smart boy who loves his family. He loves the beach, legos, trucks, Hulk, Mario, and anything else his 9-year-old brother loves.
Diego was diagnosed with T-Cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia on June 17th, 2021, just four months after turning three. Prior to his diagnosis, we had noticed a lump on his neck. He also had decreased appetite and petechiae on his arm.
Diego’s treatments have included a port placement, chemotherapy, lumbar punctures, and blood and platelet transfusions. We have to limit his social interactions due to him being immunocompromised.
Diego’s cancer diagnosis has changed our lives in every possible way.
Abigail (AbiGrace) is very social and concerned about others’ feelings. She will tell you she is a superhero as much as she is a princess. Her favorite colors are pink and purple. She loves to help, ride her bike, have tea parties, and play with unicorns and mermaids. You will often find her dressing up in costumes.
Abigail was diagnosed at Our Lady of the Lake hospital with Leukemia on September 10, 2019. We were then flown to St. Jude in Memphis arriving there in the very morning hours of 9/11/2019. It is there that we learned the type of Leukemia that she had – T-cell ALL.
Roughly a month before she was diagnosed, she had an ear infection and low-grade fevers that wouldn’t go away. We would alternate between Tylenol and Motrin for the fever and ear pain, which would help temporarily. We had noticed a little more fatigue than normal but attributed that to the ear infection just not making her feel great. When she was feeling good, she would be playing, riding her bike, and fishing with her Dad. She had just started playing soccer and went to her one and only day of preschool. The night before she was diagnosed, she had started vomiting and throughout the night became lethargic. We got her dressed as soon as her Dad got home from work and I took her in to see the pediatrician. I knew she was dehydrated, but I was not expecting anything other than that. Our doctor did labs immediately and then sent us to the hospital for further testing. We arrived at the hospital just before 10 am and by 11 pm Abigail and I were being flown to St. Jude.
Abigail has had multiple blood and platelet transfusions, bone marrow aspirates, and lumbar punctures with intrathecal chemotherapy over the last two years and seven months. She is now in long-term maintenance and gets weekly labs, chemotherapy, and takes an oral chemotherapy pill every night. Â
Abigail has a brother that is not quite two years older than her. We were very blessed that my parents were able to help out with our older son. He had just started kindergarten when Abigail was diagnosed. They were able to help keep things as routine as possible for him and brought him to see us every few weeks. With them taking care of our oldest, my husband could continue with his normal schedule of working nights and he’d come visit us every 10 days.
Abigail’s cancer diagnosis has brought us all closer together. It’s been a very long 2 years and 7 months, but she is due to ring the end of treatment bell in eight weeks. We are really looking forward to closing this chapter. It will forever be part of our story though.
Asher loves anything related to music, singing, instruments, and listening to music. He likes chess and checkers and his favorite colors are red and green.
Asher was diagnosed in January of 2021 while we were living abroad in Paraguay. Within one week of diagnosis, we moved countries and left our life behind so we could start treatment. Before he was diagnosed, he started having tummy pain, leg pain, and odd fevers. We took him to his PCP to be seen and she found him a bit pale so asked us to go get a CBC done. We went straight to the ER. They put is inpatient immediately after the labs were back. We were told he had Leukemia three days later and were on a plane to start a new life here in the USA shortly after.
Asher has had intensive chemotherapy for the past five months and has to travel five hours to Memphis and back, every other week for treatment.
Cancer has totally changed everything for us, starting with the fact that we had to leave our life behind and start a new one while going through treatment. My son and I are both USA citizens, born here, and my husband is on a tourist VISA. Besides treatment and starting a new life, we also have to deal with the paperwork to be able to have my husband stay here with us.
Asher has had long hair since he was born and not even chemo took it away from him. He continues to have his long hair and it’s longer than ever.
Madeline is such a beautiful little soul. She is charismatic, expressive, sassy, and feisty. She loves dressing up in princess costumes and high heels, but she also loves dinosaurs and Halloween things. She loves to sing and dance. She adores her older brother and wants to do whatever he does. She loves animals, especially dogs and “neighs” (horses). Her smile and love for people melt your heart. Even with cancer, she is a happy little thing with so much love to give.
Madeline was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia on October 14th, 2021. Prior to her diagnosis, she had recurrent, unexplained fevers.
Madeline has had several lumbar punctures, now with this new phase of treatment, she will only have them every 12 weeks. She also receives her chemo through her port. Thankfully and by the grace of God, Madeline has taken treatment very well so far. We are also blessed with family and friends who make meals for us during treatment times to help us out.
Cancer has absolutely changed our lives. We don’t take Madeline to crowded events, family birthdays, etc due to exposure to too many germs. Our other child is 8, so my husband and I take turns taking him to different events and activities. We still do outdoor things together. Our family loves being outside.
Manuela loves the outdoors. Playing outside always cheers her up. If going outside is not possible, she finds joy in making art or cooking with her mom. She also enjoys watching her favorite tv show.
Manuela was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL) on January 5th of 2022. She loves playing in the snow but at the end of the year (2021), she was very tired and not willing to play or go outside. Her skin turned yellow and her tummy was very bloated. We took her to the doctor where they did blood work which led to her cancer diagnosis.
She is still in frontline treatment and has had several rounds of chemotherapy which means she has regular visits to the hospital. She doesn’t have medical insurance so we depend on the financial/charity programs of her treatment hospital. For this reason, we can’t have any procedures/ therapies done closer to our home.
Cancer has changed our lives in every way. We had a 4-month-old baby when Manuela was diagnosed and an 8th grader who missed around 40 days of school to be with his sister. This year, he started high school and has had to be separated from the family so he’s able to attend school on a more regular basis. Dad has also had problems in his workplace due to his prolonged absences to take care of Manuela.
Lupe is very bright and caring. She loves to compliment people and make them smile. She is usually always happy. She loves the color pink, horses, and Barbies. She is shy but so outgoing at the same time. She always has so much to say when she gets to know someone a little bit.
Lupe was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia on February 8th of 2022. Before her diagnosis, she would get sick and she would stay sick for a very long time. She ended up in the hospital for a week with multiple infections. They discovered that she was neutropenic so they sent her to a hematologist. After several visits, she ended up in the ER throwing up blood. When they tested her blood there she had pancytopenia and they saw blasts when her blood was examined with a microscope.
She has been through many lumbar punctures, a few bone marrow aspirations, and regular chemo and medications. We have struggled a lot since diagnosis. It has been hard to watch her go through all the treatments. We also live 2 hours from her treatment hospital which has been a struggle for us.
Cancer has changed our family life. I stay home while my husband works because she is unable to go to school during her current phase of treatment. We don’t really go anywhere and we distance ourselves from a lot of people.
