Sofia was diagnosed with ALL on June 18, 2020. She started with a fever that would break with medicine but kept coming back for seven days. She got more and more tired as the days progressed and eventually became pale and had petechia inside her lips.
Sofia has been receiving chemotherapy from the beginning. We are at the last stage of treatment (maintenance) where most of her medicine is taken at home. She gets Lumbar punctures and chemo in the clinic every three months. Right after said procedures is when Sofia complains about leg pain the most because of one of the chemo meds. For a week following her procedure, she gets irritated easily and cries a lot for everything.
This cancer diagnosis has definitely changed our life!
Gavin loves jokers, tricks, and art. He’s usually talkative and a very caring boy. He had a cervical lymph node that was surgically removed and he further declined. He was admitted to the hospital, they thought it was an infection, and one week later while in the hospital he continued to have fevers will a decline in platelets. It was recommended to have a bone marrow biopsy and full surgical removal of the lymph node.
He is still undergoing treatment and at times he is neutropenic and has to be hospitalized. He continues to have lumbar punctures every chemo cycle and is hospitalized with each cycle of chemotherapy.
A word that has been used by many for Cristiano is stoic. This kid is tough and so strong. In the fall of 2020, Cristiano was having back pain. That led to him being diagnosed with ALL. He has had lots of lumbar punctures, infusions, and oral chemo.
We are a fairly active family and for Cristiano physical activity and sports were a huge part of his life, so it coming to a screeching halt has been challenging to say the least.
Emotionally, it’s taken a toll on all of us but therapy has helped, and we are trying to see the silver linings with a goal to cross February 20, 2023- end of treatment!
Terrance was diagnosed with ALL on January 15th, 2021. Before his diagnosis, he had a nose bleed that lasted up to almost an hour. So we rushed him to the ER and they started blood work and labs right away. The nurse came in and told us that his blood was real low and that he would need a blood transfusion then she came back and told us he had cancer.
He has been through a bone marrow plenty of lumbar punctures and still going through chemo treatments. we have to be very cautious with him so we really don’t go around a lot of people or family. Terrance has missed going out with his siblings to do things he has missed birthday parties.
Terrance has been very strong and brave through all this since it’s all started. I remember when he first got diagnosed we were in the hospital for about a week and one day he looked at me and he said “mommy me strong I got this” I will never forget those words.
Mia was diagnosed on 2/15/21 with leukemia. Before her diagnosis, during the first week of February, Mia wasn’t feeling well and started to sleep more. She passed out and so we contacted her doctor’s office who recommended taking a covid test, it was negative. We chalked it to a virus and she remained home from school for 10 days. The following weekend we saw her lymph nodes were very swollen and we thought for sure she was getting strep throat but no fever was present.
That Monday we set up a zoom appointment with her dr (because she was sick so appointments were done over the phone). Her doctor sent us to our children’s hospital for blood work. I think he knew but didn’t want to frighten us on the way down. They were expecting us when we arrived.
On 2/15/21, we walked into the ER expecting a diagnosis of either strep or mono, only to be told our daughter was being admitted to the oncology floor because she has cancer and needed a blood transfusion right away. From then on it’s been a whirlwind…
After induction, she was bumped to high risk due to cells also being found in her spine and her genetics results.
It has been a tough journey for Mia so far. She has spent a lot of time inpatient and at the clinic receiving her chemo. She has two older brothers who adore her. We are looking forward to June of 2023 when she is expected to complete treatment.
Everleigh is a spitfire! She is tough and so incredibly smart. Every time the doctors would expect her to be knocked down she proved them wrong. Treatment was fairly easy for her, she had very few complications. She loves all the attention. She knows exactly what she wants and has so much attitude. She is a mommas girl for sure! She loves books, and playing with anything that lights up!
On February 25th of 2020, Everleigh was diagnosed with infant Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. A week before diagnosis, Everleigh was lethargic and vomiting. Her dad and I took her to the emergency room and we were told she was constipated and was discharged. A couple of days later she was still not eating well and vomiting frequently so we took her back to the emergency room and they now said she had a UTI and we were sent home again. On the morning of February 24th, she woke up with blue lips and puffy eyes so I called 911 thinking she was having an allergic reaction. We were transported by ambulance to the hospital and they began running tests. The doctors agreed it was an allergic reaction and sent us home. About 15 minutes into our drive, the doctor called and asked us to come back because her WBC was a little bit elevated and they wanted to draw more labs. Her father and I were thinking “well she has a UTI, so that doesn’t seem unusual for a slight elevation”. After returning back to the hospital we were told her blood maxed out the machine at 440,000 WBC and that she needed to be transported to Children’s in Atlanta. Once arriving she was diagnosed with ALL and had a white blood cell count of over 1.6 million!
Everleigh has had lumbar punctures, bone marrow biopsies, several blood product transfusions, a bone marrow transplant, and many other things. She was treated for ALL and after treatment, her bone marrow was tested and we found out she had AML. She was then treated for AML and hit remission. We then moved to transplant.
We have struggled financially, and a little bit mentally/emotionally. It’s hard to watch your child fight cancer and not be able to help them! We currently are inpatient 4 hours from home. Due to COVID restrictions, we haven’t been allowed, visitors. We have missed many family holidays/birthdays, and just quality time. We have been in the hospital for a total of 101 days since February 25th.
