Abram loves Spider-Man, his big sister, dinosaurs, and being outside!
Abram was sick with what we thought was a cold for 2 months, after many doctor visits and blood tests he eventually stopped walking. He was diagnosed with leukemia on September 22, 2023.
He has had several lumbar punctures and has to receive chemo every 10 days. It has taken a mental toll on me for sure seeing my baby go through this.
When Abram was diagnosed, we were in a different state for my husband’s job and ended up having to come back to Texas. So he had to quit his job.
Joey was diagnosed in July 2021 with ALL and relapsed this year on Labor Day. He will get treatment at Riley Children’s Hospital in Indianapolis and Philadelphia Children’s Hospital for CAR T trial.
Before his diagnosis, he had bruising, increased drowsiness, lack of appetite, couldn’t walk far, and pale skin. His PCP assumed it was a bacterial infection but we fought for lab work because something else seemed off.
Throughout this journey, we have learned that family always comes first.
Carson was diagnosed with leukemia in April 2022 when he was 3 years old. He completed treatment in July 2024 and just started Kindergarten! We are hoping he can be a normal kid and we can celebrate!
Before his diagnosis, he was pale, not eating, and lethargic. When we had lab work done, it was discovered it was very low and he had to have a blood transfusion. The following day we found out it was due to cancer.
He has had numerous lumbar punctures, chemotherapy, steroids, heparin injections (he threw a blood clot), inhalers (due to his low immune system he kept getting sick), hospitalizations for oxygen, and port surgery. It was a balance when he couldn’t be in school/daycare for 9 months and he has an older sister that was impacted.
In the fall of 2023, we thought Adalyn was anemic and did blood work to confirm but found out it was very abnormal. We were sent to the hospital right away.
We are in the first cycle of long-term maintenance which is 18 months long for Addi. Addi has an NG tube for her meds that she refuses to take due to the taste, which has to be changed every month. Also, she gets a lumbar puncture every 3 months with chemo into her spine.
We were facing money issues with treatment bills and therapy for both our kids but we are in a better place now. We have had to lock ourselves down with money and no traveling. We were going to Disneyland every quarter and we liked to travel a lot. We have moved in with my parents to help save money to buy a house.
Ania was diagnosed at 6 months with ALL. Today she is 22 months old and has accepted the treatment well. When she was diagnosed, we were practically at the hospital for 10 months. During that time, Ania learned to eat, crawl, and walk but above all to be very strong- stronger than cancer.
For the first time, I understood wanting to wake up believing that what you are living is a dream, but that nightmare was more real, more agonizing, and more uncertain, but always with a broken heart.
Seeing her receive chemotherapy before her first solid and many other “firsts” all while being so helpless and small, made me feel so awful. But everything faded away when she laughed in the middle of the chaos, the tiredness, and the pain.
There have been doctors on my journey that I will remember forever for being part of their lives, for trying to take care of my feelings, and for speaking to me with the truth in the most empathetic way. They were so kind giving me the necessary time and space that I needed at that moment because they knew it was the worst day of my life.
It has not been easy, there have been moments in which I feel that I love her with fear of losing her, I work on accepting that if she gets tired of fighting it is because her body gave all it could, I ask her to be strong, as strong as she can and mom will take care of the rest.
The road is still very long. We have two more years of treatment awaiting us, we want to continue receiving good news. Thank you for having Ania in your thoughts.
Hendrix was diagnosed with ALL on February 23, 2023. Before diagnosis, he had a weird rash on his bum, then petechiae all over his body.
When Hendrix was two weeks into maintenance for acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Hendrix went diabetic ketoacidosis. And almost passed away that night. He then later became an official type 1. He’s navigating two unrelated diagnoses to the cancer. It has truly shown his resilience and the continued strength he has. Having gone through the intense phases of chemotherapy treatment. To later have a lot more complicated life. But it does not slow him down one bit. He takes life with strides.
This has put our lives on hold for a very long time, and a lot of things got put on the back burner. A year of Hendrix and all of our lives came and went.
