Alexander loves nature, he is so caring and loving of those around him. This summer he’s been into bugs and frogs and also taking care of his new baby brother.
Alexander was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia on July 28th, 2017. He was 20 months old. Leading up to his diagnosis, he was just more tired and seemed pale. Looking back at pictures now you can see he wasn’t well, but it was so hard to see at the time. He is through most of the tough treatment and is due to finish in November, but it has been a rough three years up to this point. Weekly infusions, lumbar punctures, sedations, and having his port accessed weekly or more.
Cancer changed so much about our lives in the beginning but now it just seems normal to us with everything Alexander goes through. It is said that from an outsider’s perspective it is all very daunting and it is our normal, but we are just getting through and staying strong.
We thought that Henry was just getting ready to grow because he was getting a little chubby in the face all of a sudden. However, the little bit of “chub” didn’t stop growing, and after a few days, we quickly realized that his lymph nodes were swollen. When I called the after-hours phone nurse, she said to give him plenty of fluids and call back in two weeks. I hung up and told my husband that was garbage advice, and I was going to call our pediatrician. The next morning, I called her and gently demanded that Henry be seen right away and that I did not agree with the phone nurse from the night before.
When he was seen later that day, she thought maybe he had an unusual case of the mumps or mono. When she ordered a full CBC test, I just knew. I don’t know how, but I did. I prayed about it that night and knew that if the pediatrician herself called me back with the test results, that I would know it was what I feared most. I continued to place Henry in God’s hands because He is the almighty healer. Sure enough, late the next morning I received a call from his pediatrician letting us know the worst, but God has been faithful during this entire journey.
Henry has been through the wringer with surgeries and chemotherapies and steroids, but as I said, he is super strong and brave and fights as I’ve never seen anyone do before. He amazes us, my family, and his doctors!
Our life has changed but it’s all worth the extra sacrifices to keep him safe. So we miss out a little bit, but these babies are the most important thing in the world to my husband and me so it doesn’t matter to us at all. We have everything we need right here in our home.
Justin was diagnosed on December 19, 2019, with Very High-Risk Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. He had lost 20 pounds, was barely eating, had severe shoulder and back pain, would come home and go right to bed.
He’s been in an intense treatment program since the beginning. He’s had so many setbacks like severe allergic reactions, mouth sores that he needed to be inpatient for, a blood clot in his lung, E. coli, uncontrolled nose bleeds, and most recently something called AVN. It’s “bone death” in his right knee. He’s currently unable to walk. We have missed work due to the frequent hospitalizations and due to him being immune-compromised during this Covid pandemic.
Two winters ago, Oliver had been getting repeated fevers. He was first diagnosed with a sinus infection, then after that, he received other antibiotics. Then it was strep with another round of antibiotics. Finally, as severe lethargy and paleness were setting it, I insisted on a blood test which then led us to the ER because he was severely anemic and neutropenic.
After a night in the hospital and receiving blood, we were discharged with the precept that it was probably a virus. The c-word had been mentioned, but more as an “it doesn’t look like it’d be cancer.”
We waited a few weeks for his immune system to build up before returning to school and regular life. We were just about in the clear thinking this was all behind us when a fever popped back up again. We had to go to the ER since those were the directions we were under for another couple of days. Blood tests showed his counts were going back down which led the hematologist to schedule a bone marrow biopsy. It was then we discovered it was cancer.
Oliver has been undergoing months of chemotherapy, including monthly procedures for lumbar punctures/chemo injected into the spinal canal. The past 1-2 months have been the most difficult. We’ve all gotten tired from this hard journey. Treatment schedules have been extra heavy, his hair has fallen out, and fevers have led to hospital stays for a week-long each. There has been worry and big emotions.
At the beginning of this journey, I didn’t think I wanted a photography session in general… I saw it as a phase of life I didn’t want to remember. But a few weeks ago as we each made our way into our seats at the dinner table- still carrying burdens from the day- I considered how we are all struggling in our own way, but at the same time leaning on each other as family. This is the hardest thing our family has ever gone through, and hopefully ever will go through. But here we are, getting through it together and in love. Sometimes it looks ugly, but it’s beautiful in its core. So I realized that I really would appreciate a photography session for us to look back at the pictures and gain strength from them. To look at it and say- we made it through that time and so we can make it through other tough things too. Especially when we have our family!
My daughter, Amy, was diagnosed with cancer on November 23, 2019. It was very hard to hear the word cancer as the reason she was sick. It all started when she got the flu and strep throat at the same time. The doctor gave her medicine to treat them both, but she was getting worse as each day went by. Her fever got up to 105 and the lowest it got was 102.3. She started throwing up and had diarrhea. She wasn’t eating and wasn’t drinking enough fluids.
I took her to the ER on the second day. I was worried she was dehydrated, but our local ER didn’t do anything and sent us home with instructions to give her Tylenol then Morton every 3 hours. That was on a Friday, so on Sunday morning, we took her back to the ER since she wasn’t getting any better. The same doctor from last time told us to do the same thing! Monday morning I took her to our local walk-in clinic. They diagnosed her with flu and strep and the doctor told me to go back to the ER for a blood test. So I did, and that’s when they found Leukemia cells in her bloodstream.
We immediately went to Savannah for her to get treatment. We are very thankful for all the doctors and nurses in Savannah.
We have to go back and forth to Savannah for her treatment, which is about 3 hours there and 3 hours back home. We struggle to find someone to keep our other three children that are in school.
After being on chemo for a month we were told she was in remission. We are so thankful! But she still needs to continue with chemo for another 2 1/2 years. We pray that everything turns out great.
Amy’s a very strong baby! She has been through a lot but that doesn’t take away her smile and laughter.
Isaac is a loving, caring kid that is always looking out for others. He likes to ride his bike, go to the park, bake and he likes to do arts and crafts. He loves to play with our cat and dogs and he likes to play with his cousins too. He loves superheroes. His favorite ones are Batman, Spider-man, and Captain America.
Isaac was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia on September 4, 2015, at the age of 4 1/2 years old. About a month and a half before Isaac’s diagnosis, he would complain about leg pain occasionally. We noticed it would happen when we would walk a lot so we didn’t think much of it. One particular night, about a month before his diagnosis the pain was so bad he woke up crying because of how bad it was. We took him to the emergency room where they did a physical test and observed him for a few hours and was later released because they didn’t think anything of it. They concluded that it was growing pains. We followed up with an appointment with his pediatrician and she agreed with the doctors in the emergency room. Another thing that we noticed was his skin color changed. He looked more yellow leading up to his diagnosis and his mood was overall just sad. He was always more tired also.
Three days before Isaac’s diagnosis, he had a high fever that wouldn’t go away. We were up all night because he couldn’t rest because of the fever. He didn’t do much, he wouldn’t even eat. I took him to the doctor the day after (Wednesday) and was told that other kids came in with similar symptoms as him and it was most likely a virus that was going around. She told me to bring him that Friday if the symptoms persisted. That night was also rough because neither of us could sleep. Around 4 AM on Thursday, I noticed that his top lip was a little swollen and it was tender to the touch and the left side of his face was beginning to swell up too. I immediately woke my husband up and told him that we should take him to the emergency room.
They took him in right away and they started asking me questions and his blood was drawn was right away. A doctor came in about 30 minutes later and told me to sit down because what she was going to tell me wasn’t good. My heart immediately dropped to my stomach. She told me Isaac’s hemoglobin level was at a 3 and normal hemoglobin is 12 or more. She told me that what Isaac most likely had was cancer. She told me that Isaac needed to be admitted immediately to get a blood transfusion and to get tested to see what type of cancer he had. That entire day he was given blood transfusions. The next day he had a bone marrow biopsy around 1 pm and at 11 pm the doctor gave us the news that Isaac had leukemia.
Isaac had chemo treatment started the day after his diagnosis. His treatment lasted 3 years and 3 months. During those 3 years, he’s had blood transfusions, platelet transfusions, countless lumbar punctures, intravenous chemo, and oral medication every day. Isaac has had to get an IEP at school because he struggled with math and reading while getting treatment because of what they call “Chemo Brain”. After getting his IEP, he has learned to read and is more confident in math.
Isaac’s cancer diagnosis did change our family life. After he was diagnosed, I had to quit my job so I could take care of him and could take him to his appointments. All of our attention was diverted to him to make sure he was well and taken care of. This meant taking attention away from our oldest daughter. Unfortunately, this is what happens when you have an ill child. Our family life also changed because every time something hurts him or he isn’t feeling well, we get scared because the thought of the cancer returning is always in the back of our mind and that is something we will always have to live with.
This is something that we never imagined would happen to us. It brought us closer as a family, we learned who our true friends are, we’ve met some great people along the way and we’ve felt the love of strangers with their kindness of giving. This has taught us to be patient, to forgive, to love harder, and to always thank God for the little things in life. This has also taught us to never doubt God’s plans that he has for each one of us.
