Mason loves fishing, camping, nerf guns, video games, and science. He is looking forward to getting involved with cub scouts again now that treatment has ended. He is an intelligent rising 5th grader – he refused to let cancer slow him down in school. He has worked so hard to keep up with his classmates. Everyone loves that Mason is always smiling! On the hardest of days, you will still see Mason smiling, never ever complaining. He loves being the big brother of the family. And mom and dad love watching him smile and laugh when playing with his brother and sister. He can be quiet when you first meet him but once you know him he will talk nonstop and you will be a fan for life!
On February 6th of 2019, just a few weeks before his 7th birthday, Mason was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. For several weeks prior to his diagnosis, we noticed Mason was more pale, bruised, and tired than usual. On February 5, 2019 Mason came home covered head to toe in petechiae and Mom (a pediatric oncology nurse for years) feared leukemia with all of the symptoms combined. We took Mason to the ER that evening and we had our official diagnosis early the next morning.
Mason has gone through bone marrow biopsies, lumbar punctures, surgeries for port placement and removal, blood and platelet transfusions, chemo (IV, oral, intrathecal), and physical therapy. Financially our family has really struggled as mom had to quit her nursing job when Mason was diagnosed.
At the time of Mason’s diagnosis, we also had an 8-week-old and a 3-year-old. Figuring out how to manage all of Mason’s care along with trying to keep his brother and sister’s life somewhat “normal” was an ongoing challenge. The whole family truly is affected by the cancer diagnosis. Our family has learned how to really appreciate every day, the small things along with the big things. Life can change so quickly.
Mason rang the bell on May 24 of this year and took his last chemo on May 28 and we could not be more proud of him!
Aiden is a resilient, extremely smart boy which a heart of gold. He’s a huge dinosaur fanatic and can name off all of the dinosaurs! During his month-long hospital stay, all the nurses and doctors were always so happy to go in and talk to Aiden. He would show them funny songs, try to make nurses laugh, and show them his new puzzle of the day. Aiden finished a 300-piece puzzle before doctors could round that morning!
Aiden was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia in June of 2022. He was a healthy 4-year-old kid up until around May when he started having night fevers every night. Aiden was running a fever of 104 and would complain of bone pain. When I spoke to his pediatrician he did blood work right away and reached back out to me the following day saying that the lab had called and said that Aiden had cells that were immature and would be referring me to Seattle Children’s Hospital. We waited a month for an appointment all while he continued to have frequent fevers. I grew more worried and started noticing bruises all over his legs and decreased activity. The day of our appointment finally came and our hope was to get a simple answer and go home but we were taken aback when we had to be admitted to the hospital and eventually had to relocate to Seattle for treatment. Aiden was frightened and did not understand what was happening.
Aiden has undergone 5 surgeries/procedures during his first month of chemotherapy. He underwent emergency surgeries for herniated intestines as well as stent and port placement. He has had bone marrow aspirations as well as weekly lumbar punctures. Our family struggles with the worry that these procedures and treatments will scar him and cause him trauma when he is older. Aiden is unable to move as fast as he used to due to having stents placed, He has also suffered some complications with chemotherapy and developed extremely painful and large kidney stones. He had stents placed to prevent further kidney damage and is awaiting surgery for the stone removal.
Aiden’s cancer diagnosis has completely changed our life. We have had to stop working and move 4 hours away from home to be able to be close to the hospital during treatment. We are living day to day and just hoping to get through all of this, one day at a time.
My daughter had stage 4 non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma cancer and more recently relapsed with T-Cell Leukemia. Her brother helped donate his bone marrow to help her as she fought for her life a second time. She had frontline chemotherapy the first time she was diagnosed as well as several rounds of high-dose chemo to fight the 90% cancer blasts in her bone marrow and it had spread to her spinal fluid. She had total body irradiation as well as cranial radiation and a bone marrow transplant.
It has changed our life as we lived in the hospital for almost a year. We never take a day for granted that she is alive. She is a fighter! Many of her friends of similar age and similar diagnoses of cancer have passed away and we are so sad about that but thanks for each new day.
Our daughter Sarah (5 years old) was diagnosed with leukemia (ALL) last year. Sarah was just a normal girl before she was diagnosed. She was never sick. We have no cancer history in the family. We still don’t know how and what happened.
Due to her diagnosis, her immunity is compromised. We are taking precautions to keep her away from large groups as much as possible.
Our lives were turned down. It was a shock for us. She is a strong girl. She is fighting with each day with courage and inspires us so much with her positivity.
Heidi had a backache and we went to urgent care. The doctor said it was muscle strain and prescribed a relaxer. Five days later, we followed up with a doctor and she said it was an infection. A week went by and she was still not better. She had lost 28 pounds by this time. We checked in again with the doctor but decided we needed answers and she was unable to give them to us. We headed to the ER in St. Paul. and within 6 hours they had their ideas of what it could be. We were transferred to Minneapolis for further testing. She was diagnosed with leukemia on September 19th, 2018.
She has had chemo, radiation, several long hospital stays, and treatment in another state. Both parents have had to miss countless days, weeks, and months of work. She had compression fractures in her vertebrae and had to relearn how to walk. Limited time standing, walking, attending school, and hanging out with friends as she had to endure treatment for her sophomore year of high school.
Our son Roman was diagnosed on May 17th, 2022 with ALL. Roman is our little dancer/dinosaur of the house and he just started acting off, he was sleeping more, and complaining of knee pain. Then out of nowhere, he started to look pale. As a mom, you know something is wrong when your child is acting differently.
He has gone through a few LPs, blood transfusions, and platelet transfusions. At induction, he stopped walking, but as of July, he started again.
We are a family of six and trying to explain to the older siblings what’s going on in the next 2 years will be difficult.
