Ashley loves to color, do crafts and play with her babies. She also loves stuffed animals, loves being outside, and watching her favorite Disney reruns on Netflix. She gets a kick out of her dad acting silly. Like when he pretends to run into the corner of the door or hurts himself. Her laugh is the best!
Ashley was diagnosed January 12th, 2015, with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia and is currently in treatment until at least April, 2017. Before her diagnosis she was very pale, tired and wanted to sleep all the time. She also complained of her legs being tired, hurting, and we started noticing bruising all over her body. She has been receiving iv chemotherapy, lumbar punctures, chemotherapy/antibiotics/antivirals taken in pill form every night and numerous other procedures. So many finger pokes and blood tests I’ve lost count!Her treatment plan is two and half years, depending on how she responds. Ashley almost always has a smile through it all!
We struggle financially due to me being off work for the first year of treatment, we are starting to try to get back to a new “normal” if you will. Cancer has slowed us down a ton. We take no day for granted and take everything one day at a time. Life is precious, and a diagnosis like this makes you slow down and realize that.
Luke is everyone’s favorite kid! He has such a loveable personality and his chubby cheeks are so kissable as well! He is always on the go, running and playing with his 50383 balls he has! He loves anything paw patrol or frozen. He loves bubbles and all animals too!
Luke wasn’t acting himself, had weird bruising, was not eating well and constantly tired. Then on January 21, 2016 he was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia T-Cell. Luke started chemo the night he was diagnosed. He has had 7 different types of chemotherapy over the past 3 months. He got a blood clot from a pick line and had to have the clot removed surgically. I have quit my teaching job to stay home with Luke, but he is such a daddy’s boy, so it’s hard to be away from him at the hospital for treatments for 4 days at a time.
Cancer has totally changed our lives. We were always out and about. Luke was such a social butterfly, but now to keep him healthy, we have to stay home or stay away from a lot of people who are sick. I have to give Luke 2 shots a day, so we can’t ever have a night or morning “away” or a date night, because not just anyone will give a toddler a shot for you!
Henry is full of energy. Henry is strong and has kind of an old soul for a 2 year old. Henry enjoys everything hockey. He can ice skate and shoot a hockey puck. Henry loves to sing songs and play with any kind of cars, trains, or construction equipment. Henry is very caring and is good about showing his manners. He is a bit stubborn and never has been much of a sleeper. He is high spirited and catches on quick. He has the brains of his father and the charm of his mother. Henry has a love for baseball. His favorite foods are cheese, greek yogurt, and pizza.
On Sunday February 1, 2015 Henry began running a fever. We just chalked it up to teething or maybe the flu. After a few off and on fevers over the weekend, we took him to the pediatrician on Monday morning. She ran the flu test and it came back positive. She has also noticed some bruising so we discussed that. I said Henry had all these bruises because he had been crazily playing hockey in the basement with his dad. His pediatrician wanted to run his blood, due to the notice of the bruises. Henry got medicine for the flu and home we went. We got a call saying his platelet count was low and to go to University of Minnesota Children’s ER. They ran more blood and came back with the possibility that it may be a platelet disorder. So we went home and were going to come back for recheck on Thursday after he could heal up from the flu. On Wednesday we got a call to come back because they had taken another look and noticed some oddities. Henry was admitted that day. Through a more series of test we go the official diagnosis of B Cell ALL or Leukemia on February 4th, 2015.
Henry is currently in the beginning of the maintenance phase of his treatment plan. This phase requires daily oral chemo, alternated by two different kinds, along with chemo in the port, a lumbar puncture with chemo, and monthly steroids. These are used as a form of chemotherapy treatment as well. Henry’s treatment will proceed until April of 2018, as long as the cancer remains at bay. If cancer would show up through this time, then Henry will start treatment all over again, with a more aggressive form.
The biggest struggle is watching your child go through this, knowing we must put poison in his body for a chance for a cure. Chemo does a lot of damage and in some cases, even cause secondary cancers. I stay home full time to care for Henry and my husband is the only one bringing in income. We have struggled, but we will make it. Henry needs me to care for him, so this is what I will do.
Cancer has slowed us down, caused us to take a look at who we are and what we are doing in this world. It wakes you up. You do not take things for granted and you do not think too far ahead in the future. Living day by day is really the healthy thing for us to do. As we don’t know what tomorrow will bring. We don’t know if Henry will be cured, we don’t know what this chemo will do to his body. There are a lot of unknowns in this process and you can go crazy trying to find answers to things there are not answers to.
Henry smiles all the time, even when his is feeling bad. He has a great spirit and I pray everyday Henry will be cured of cancer. This has been quite and emotional time, but we all have faith, and love and will get through this.
Hope Session by Allyson Wasmund Photography. website | facebook
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Sam laughs a lot. He laughs with his brother and he laughs with his friends and classmates. He laughs when we tickle him and laughs at his dog. He enjoyed playing soccer this summer and is now starting to learn all about football. He is an avid reader and writer and loves to color. He has many friends and loves to play on the playground. He likes to swim and build Legos.
In 2013 Sam was sick a lot and had many unexplained fevers. He was diagnosed with Leukemia on 02-11-13. His treatment plan is daily chemo for 1,000 days. He has about 200 days left of treatment. This cancer diagnosis has turned our life upside down. We are living in a world we never knew existed.
Hope Session by Paige Everson Fine Arts Portraits. website | facebook
Juan is one happy boy! He loves playing with his 4 brothers. He loves playing with balls, things to push and especially loves having a backpack with wheels so he can push it all around. After some low grade fevers and swollen lymph nodes, we discovered he had Pre B Cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. He received many types of chemotherapy trough his port. Steroids, lumbar punctures, antibiotics and more medications are regularly part of his treatment. Right now he is taking oral chemotherapy at home and also having monthly visits at clinic with blood work and antibiotics to prevent pneumonia. We need to take care of him constantly and keep him away of any virus or sick person. His diagnosis has changed our life tremendously!
Brooke is spirited, playful and full of life. Halloween is Brooke’s very favorite time of the year. She loves dressing up, especially as something scary. She loves zombies, scary movies and gore and she’s only 6! She is not shy- very social and likes to make friends. She can stay up past everyone’s bedtime, always wanting to party. 🙂
In October of 2013, she was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia. before Brooke was diagnosed, she would get red welts/hives every day on her body. I took her to see specialists for 14 weeks and I would either be told she was allergic to something, or she had a viral infection. I got very discouraged- they would not go away. I knew it was something more than just being allergic to tomatoes. We went on a trip to Disneyland and that’s when everything got bad. She had a high fever, fatigue and nose bleeds. I rushed her back to Tucson and that’s when she was diagnosed.
Brooke has had lots of chemotherapy over the past two years. She’s had IV chemo as well as spinal tap chemos. Her counts go up and down so we have to be careful about her getting sick. We are thankful for days when Brooke feels well and we can just get out of the house and go to the grocery store.
Brooke being diagnosed with cancer has changed so much. We appreciate every single day we have on this earth. The little things don’t matter as much anymore. We don’t care if the house is clean, or we do all the scheduled routines stuff. We just want to live. Have fun. Be together. We are thankful for this very moment we have together.
