Jordan is fun loving and funny. She loves her older brothers a lot. They make her laugh and giggle quite a bit with the funny things they say and do together. She loves her dog a lot too. She is quite affectionate and very demonstative. She loves music, movies and Barbie.
Jordan was diagnosed with Infant ALL at just 4 months old. Our little family went from being overwhelmed with the happiness of twin 3 year old boys and an infant baby girl to being immersed in a cancer world we knew nothing about. It was so hard to get through those first 8 months of intense chemo, long hospital stays and constant separations. Jordan had setbacks but she did well and completed 2 years of treatment. Her first relapse was just 3 short weeks later.
At 2 years old Jordan endured more chemo and radiation to prepare her for a bone marrow transplant from her 5 year old brother. Less than 6 months post transplant Jordan relapsed again. This time we sought a trial treatment called CAR-T cell therapy in the U.S. Today we confirmed that so far the trial has been effective in getting Jordan back in remission. Tomorrow we fly home to Canada after being away for 6 weeks.
In 2 months Jordan will be 4 years old and starting kindergarden. She has been fighting her Leukemia forever. Her brothers are 6 years old and don’t remember a time when this wasn’t our life. We are often separated for treatment. We miss events because it is not safe for Jordan to attend. Jordan doesn’t know what it is to be a regular kid because her whole life has been about getting her healthy again. None of our kids should know the word Leukemia.
There have been many struggles over the past three years of this journey. All of this has taught us not to take things for granted. Enjoy your kids and do your best to make them and yourself happy. Life is not promised and moments in time can be short. Don’t worry about the little things but instead get out and make memories. Do everything you can to live life with love and hope in your heart. Do everything you can to let your kids be kids. Make sure they know how much they are loved. And do your best to keep moving forward.
Izzy is a spunky, sassy, happy 6 year old! She love cheer leading and playing with her toys! She is a huge dog lover, she loves playing babies and with her calico critters. Izzy is a very strong little girl! If it wouldn’t be for the hair loose you wouldn’t even know she was sick most days! She hides it so well. She handles treatments very well. She takes her medicine without any fights now! Lol she struggled at first. We have been very fortunate with Izzys journey. She has had a few hurdles (like a kidney stone) but she jumps right through them! She is my hero and I am so proud of the strong little girl she is!
Cancer has changed our perspective on life so much. We have lost family and friends who we thought would be by our side. We have learned to let things go and not wait until tomorrow, because there may not be a tomorrow. This journey has brought our family so much closer.
Inseeya is shy, soft and introverted but also very stubborn. She knows what she wants and knows how to get it. She is fearless! She loves to laugh at her baby brothers and making silly faces while running after them. She likes dressing up and getting her hair and nails done. Inseeya loves princesses and she dreams of being a princess! So we surprised her with her favorite princess Belle at her session!
When Inseeya was only 3 months old, she was lethargic with a high grade fever. She didn’t eat or cry. She was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. Leukemia in infants is very rare and when an infant does have Leukemia it tends to be more aggressive. She was treated with chemotherapy but the stress of having a baby with cancer caused her sibling and myself anxiety.
We are still adjusting to our new “normal.” My princess doesn’t remember her fight. The scars on her body reminds us what she has been through and what we have been through. And what we should be grateful for. We have our baby back after the fight and we are thankful for the little things in life and appreciate life alot better now.
Violet truly radiates happiness and spunk like the sun. She is empathetic, kind, and incredibly strong. She has strong bonds with “her babies” and loves animals.
In the fall of 2015, Violet was fussy at night, stopped eating, began to have night sweats, would not walk down the stairs, and seemed to be sick all the time. Violet was diagnosed on November 6th, 2015- the day she turned 2.5- with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia or ALL. Violet stopped walking twice due to the pain caused by her leukemia and the treatment. She has had 3 bone marrow biopsies, countless chemo infusions, and 16 spinal taps with intrathecal chemo. She takes oral chemo every night, gets a once monthly Vincristine infusion. She has to have a spinal tap with intrathecal methotrexate almost every month and the weeks she doesn’t have a spinal tap she takes oral methotrexate once weekly.
We have 5 children and are a single income household so we are struggling financially. We also don’t get to do as many fun things as we used to because we need to protect Violet. We pulled our oldest two(school aged) little ones out of school and we are home schooling to protect her from school germs. It is difficult because we used to enjoy spending time together eating out, shopping, or going to large family functions but we choose to not expose her to illness for the duration of treatment. Everything is just more difficult now. Financially, emotionally… everything.
Violet has had an incredibly difficult time with everything. She beat sepsis and neutropenic typhlitis in July and we truly thought we were going to lose her. She has a 5-10% relapse rate and is currently in the maintenance phase of treatment. We are hoping and praying it never comes back. We know she will fight this beast!
Abbie is AWESOME!!! Abbie is a spunky 13 year old. She’s fighting leukemia for the second time. Abbie was first diagnosed in Feb. 2011. After two years off treatment the leukemia returned. This time the treatment was much harder on her. She has had to endure so much. She hasn’t lost her spunk through shots, labs, chemo, spinal taps and nausea. Not a day goes by that she doesn’t make us laugh.
Cancer has definitely changed our lives. The constant worry of will the leukemia return, what are Abbie’s counts and what is the treatment doing to her are always on our minds.
We are so blessed to be surrounded by so many amazing people. Family, friends, our community and people we have never met have been there for us. Cancer is ugly but it brings out the kindness in people.
Weeks after Noel’s third birthday, we noticed bruising covering her little body. This seemed abnormal to us and we decided that we would talk to her pediatrician about our concern during her upcoming visit. Within days of noticing the bruising, she became very ill with flu-like symptoms. After several phone calls to the pediatrician, with fear of dehydration looming, we took her in to see her doctor. She was a very sick little girl, but we didn’t realize just how sick.
The doctor ran blood tests and explained that the results were very concerning. She instructed us to take Noel immediately to the University of Virginia’s Emergency Department where they would be able to run more tests and were better prepared to treat her. Over those next several excruciating hours, we were told that our daughter had a strep infection, but because leukemia cells had taken over all of her “good” blood cells her body could not fight off the infection. She was on the verge of septic shock. Our brains were trying to decipher what we were hearing. Strep? Septic Shock? Leukemia?!? A parent’s worse nightmare was becoming our reality.
They immediately sent her to the pediatric ICU where they began giving her IV antibiotics to fight the strep infection as they prepared to begin chemotherapy to kill the leukemia cells that had overtaken her body. Noel spent nearly a month in the hospital before coming home to continue outpatient treatment at UVA Children’s Hospital, and one year ago she transferred to Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital after a job change brought our family to Middle Tennessee.
These past two and a half years have been very difficult and challenging for our family, but I can say with confidence that we have grown and become stronger through this unexpected journey. Noel was a fun-loving and sweet child before she was forced to become a cancer fighting warrior princess. She is the strongest and bravest five year old girl I know. Her two big brothers have watched and cheered their little sister on from the sidelines. We have seen such an outpouring of love and support from our family and friends, and even complete strangers who have heard of her story. We thank God for sparing her life, and we rejoice that she had become a Pediatric Cancer Survivor. We will forever be grateful to the TGHP and Alex Sumner photography for capturing the end of this long journey through beautiful photographs. What an amazing gift to our family! Thank you for celebrating our little girl’s victory over leukemia.
