Aaliyah loves music and dance. She is shy but opens up very easily. She loves girly things. Her favorite show is stranger things and loves watching movies.
In the summer of 2017, Aaliyah had very bad pain in her joints and knees. She also experienced fatigue while walking for a short period of time with a pale complexion. She was diagnosed with ALL on July 26th, 2017.
She completed her treatment plan of chemotherapy with many lumbar punctures to check her numbers. In the beginning there was a very big adjustment. She just ended treatment last month and so far, so good in her health.
Micah was diagnosed 07-14-2018. I was carrying his little brother who is now 1 year old. He loves his brother. He also loves going to church. Spirituality is very important to us.
He is a very active kid. He’s always smiling. If he’s not, we know somethings wrong. He impacts lives and lives to help others. He is very kind and sweet! This journey has not been an easy one, but Micah has been tolerating treatments extremely well. He is our courageous and strong Micah-Man. Even the doctors were surprised at how resilient he was.
Cancer has changed our lives, but I believe for the better! We’ve met so many wonderful people: doctors, staff, families, etc. since then. We were able to take an all-paid trip to Los Angeles this year. It’s unfortunate that it occurred but we like to look at the brighter side of things.
We continue to fight as a family every day. One day, he will be able to ring the bell. We are confident in this!
Mason is an upbeat goofball! Mason wants to be just like his 11-year-old big brother and cannot wait to be done with treatment so that he can become a competitive swimmer and join the water polo team. Mason loves superheroes, pokemon and legos. His favorite food in the world is sushi and he essentially counts the days until he is allowed to eat raw sushi following the conclusion of his treatment.
In the spring of 2017, we noticed that Mason was bruising easily and was very pale. His preschool teacher also noticed that Mason was very tired at school. We took him to his pediatrician, expecting that he was anemic, but we quickly found out that there was much more wrong once they performed blood tests.
Mason is in the middle of long term maintenance treatment, he is immunocompromised, so we have to be hyper-vigilant in protecting him from viruses and infections. He also continues to suffer from some side effects of chemotherapy, including skin conditions, sun sensitivity, nausea, and neuropathy.
Mason’s diagnosis has changed the lives of our family forever! No one ever expects this to happen to their family and it has made us even closer than we were before. We do not have the luxury of taking time for granted. We work hard to make memories as a family as the future may bring further struggles.
Through everything he has experienced, he has maintained an amazingly positive attitude. Always friendly and smiling, he has pulled through like a champ.
Ryan was sick for 7 weeks prior to being diagnosed. He had viruses, swollen lymph nodes, pink eye, and then started having leg pains that got progressively worse to the point he couldn’t walk anymore. We kept being sent home from the pediatrician until I finally demanded they do blood work.
Our whole life changed. I had to stop working, my other son was being passed around to various family members so we could get a handle on things and everything we knew before diagnosis didn’t exist anymore.
We are so overly cautious now about germs and who we allow around us and our kids. We’ve had to miss major family events because either Ryan was sick or someone else was sick. We’ve been affected emotionally, physically and financially. I personally had a major emotional breakdown a year after his diagnosis. Mainly because it was the first time I could stop and process what just happened. It’s taken a serious toll on all of our lives.
We couldn’t have gotten to where we are now without amazing organizations like yours. In such dark days, we found so many bright amazing people who were there to help us through and still do to this day. I want everyone out there to know that you can’t do it alone. And don’t be too proud to ask for help.
Ryan handles treatment like a champ. He never complains, never cries and is the strongest person I know.
Enzo had daily fevers for a few weeks and nobody could figure out why. Eventually, his pediatrician ordered a bone marrow biopsy and found out he has JMML Leukemia.
We live 2 hours away from Levine Children’s and have had to stay in Charlotte sinceMayy. We have missed out on so many things, as have our children.
Enzo is a sweet little boy who has been through a lot!
