Luke loves his friends, making new friends, doing magic and building legos.
Shortly before his 5th birthday, Luke was bruising easily. His skin also had a yellow tint and was really tired. I felt a small lump on his neck and took him to the pediatrician who ordered a blood and urine test. We were sent us to the ER where he was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia or ALL. ALL is the most common type of childhood cancer, affecting about 3,000 children every year. Luke’s symptoms are pretty common for ALL but children can also experience unexplained fevers or loss of appetite.
ALL has a long treatment plan with 3 phases. Luke has had many lumbar puctures, chemotherapy, and stayed in-patient at Children’s hospital. Our family has been apart a lot over the last year since Luke has been in the hospital for a total of over 80 nights. His diagnosis has brought us closer together and made us more grateful for each other and our community.
Joshua is very outgoing, outspoken and caring. He loves playing sports, watching videos on his ipad and playing video games.
In early 2011, he was experiencing unexplained fevers, leg pain and nosebleeds. He was then diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL). ALL occurs when errors occur in the DNA of bone marrow cells. Joshua’s early symptom are common signs of leukemia. Children can also experience bruising, bone pain and enlarged lymph nodes. Treatment plans are usually very long and consistent of active treatment, maintenance and then remission. His diagnosis was very traumatic for the whole family and our lives were changed forever.
Joshua has been in remission and off treatment for 2 years. He was very brave throughout his whole treatment. He endured over three years of treatment with a resilience and grace we never thought anyone had, let alone a child.
Heston is a funny, crazy kid!! He loves dirt bikes and four wheelers. He lives for his cows. He loves being cowboy with his dad. Heston has the nickname Mudface (it’s his tough cowboy name). Before cancer this kid was a spitfire full of energy. Right now he has a lot of anger he doesn’t know how to deal with. He has his good days full of laughter and his bad days. He has always been full of love though. He gives the best snuggles.
On a Friday he woke up saying his throat was sore. I noticed he had slept a lot that day as well. So that evening I took him into the clinic because I just knew he had strep throat. Strep test was negative and the doctor put him on an antibiotic because he said he had a throat infection. By Monday he just was not better. I took him to see his normal pediatrician. She instantly said it was something other than viral and sent us for blood work. Within 2 hrs I received the call to take him immediately to Cook children’s. The doctors there were waiting on him. We walked in was rushed back to a room. Within the hour, we were met by the on call oncologist and told our son had leukemia. Because of the type he had he was admitted into the ICU were we stayed for the next 5 days before being transferred to the 5th floor (H/O floor).
Heston gets IV chemo, oral chemo at home, and monthly back pokes. That is were they draw the spinal fluids to test for any leukemia cells and also gets chemo into his spine. He also takes a round of steroids about every three weeks. The steriods have to be the toughest on him. He has weight gain, all over body pain and soreness. Crazy, crazy food cravings. Some days he can barely walk. Other days he is up running and playing with his brothers.
Our oldest son can no longer have friends over. We can’t just get up and go to breakfast on Saturday morning or out to dinner Friday night like we use to. Can’t just go to grocery store when I need something. Always have to see what his counts are before going anywhere. Heston is our super hero. The strongest little three year old I know.
Hope session by Lindsey Rabon Photography. website | facebook
Ariana is a goofy, sassy and naturally happy toddler. Her older brothers, aunt and cousin are the best at making her laugh. She loves Mickey Mouse and the hotdog song, balls, singing, dancing, music, dogs and baby dolls. In May of 2016, she was constantly sick with several urgent care visits for over a month. Illnesses ranged from sinus issues, upper respiratory problems, ear infections and pneumonia. She was diagnosed with High Risk Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL) on May 25th, 2016.
ALL is one of the most common diagnosed childhood cancers. Luckily, children with ALL have a survival rate of 90%. Even with a high survival rate, there are obstacles in their treatment. For example, Ariana is on social isolation due to low and compromised immune system.
Ariana receives chemotherapy weekly, has multiple lumbar punctures and bone marrow biopsies. Because of the frequency of Ariana’s treatment, her mom had to leave her job in order to care for her at the hospital and because she cannot attend daycare anymore. We have had to cut out many things in our family life. Because she had to be socially isolated we couldn’t attend the things we normally would as a family or was often be split up because of hospital stays.
Ariana is such a strong little girl through this and manages to smile even on her crumiest days. She makes an impression on every doctor and nurse she sees and is such a sweetheart!
Bristol is a very outgoing, happy child. He loves cowboy boots, horses, cows, fishing and Mickey Mouse. He loves to swim and play outside. He has a very infectious smile. He started pre school a couple of weeks ago and he loves it.
Oct 6 2015, Bristol was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia or ALL. Before his diagnosis he was having pain in his arms and legs with some bruising. His treatment plan consisted of numerous hospital stays for chemotherapy, many spinal taps and so much medicine. He is now in remission but his treatment will continue for a few years.
Bristol may not look sick or like anything is wrong with him but he has endured so much already during his 3 years. He takes everything like a little champ. He amazes me everyday and I know that God chose us for a reason.
Jake is a sweet caring child with a heart of gold unless he is on steroids…haha! He laughs when tickled, chased, and playing with his little sister. He loves sports – basketball, soccer, etc. and racing…loves race cars. His favorite animal friend is his stuffed dinosaur Arlo – he goes with us everywhere!
In October of 2015, Jake wasn’t feeling like himself and was experiencing fevers, bruising, yellowing of skin, ear infections and strep throat. When he was still running a high fever, we went in for a follow up visit to our pediatrician. She ran a CBC and discovered his cell counts were not good and sent us to the Texas Children’s Hospital ER. They told us everything was pointing to leukemia and they were transporting us to the main Texas Children’s Hospital location in downtown Houston. We were checked into the ICU.
Jake was officially diagnosed on Saturday, October 10th with Leukemia (Pre-B ALL). We were able to move from ICU to a room on the Oncology floor on Sunday night. Jake started chemotherapy on Monday. Fever and bruising are common signs of leukemia, a cancer that forms in the blood cells. With common treatment plans for leukemia lasting years, Jake has been through chemotherapy, spinal taps, breathing treatments, port placement and accessing, MRI, etc.
Needless to say, everything happened so fast that the shock had not worn off by the time treatment started. We have been extremely blessed with so many wonderful family and friends praying for Jake and us. We cannot thank all of you enough for everything you have done and for every prayer sent to the Good Lord above. We are thankful to God for each of you. Please continue to pray that God heals our amazing little boy and that He gives Jake and us strength to handle each new day.
