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.
Ollie is a little shy at first, but when he warms up, he is very silly and goofy. He loves to tell jokes and play pranks. He laughs at all our jokes (even bad ones) and likes to make up his own jokes and silly songs. He loves superheroes, paw patrol, sharks, cars, Elephant and Piggie books, pokemon, and video games like Zelda and Minecraft. He’s very adventurous and brave (he’s been jumping off tall furniture since he could walk), but he still wants to snuggle with his blanket when he’s a little overwhelmed.
He was diagnosed with ALL in the spring of 2022. He started limping about two weeks before his diagnosis. He also was very tired, cranky, and clingy. I noticed petechiae on his body and my sister pointed out how skinny he’d gotten.
Ollie has had two surgeries to place and replace his port, multiple bone marrow biopsies, lumbar punctures, and around a dozen or more blood and/or platelet transfusions. He’s done a variety of chemotherapy treatments and has spent most of the past 2 and a half years on chemo. He’s spent around 50 days in the hospital in the past 2 years. I quit the full-time job I had when he was diagnosed and I’ve had to change jobs multiple times to find ones that will cover our finances and allow me to miss days when he’s in the hospital or when I need to bring him to appointments. We’ve all struggled emotionally with this, needing therapy and medication to help with the psychological toll seeing our sweet boy go through this has done.
I feel like I value my time with my kids much more and I’ve become a much more patient parent. My motto now is that there’s no mess too big that we can’t clean up, and I try to say “yes” to as many things as I can because life is so short and precious.
Ollie is the bravest little boy I know. He takes big scary medical procedures that would make any adult worry and does them like they were nothing. He has fought so so hard these last 2 years and we are so proud of him. If he can do this, I know I can do any big scary thing I have to face.
Eden was diagnosed with Osteosarcoma at the age of 14. Her diagnosis was just before Christmas in December of 2021. She had treatment until September of 2022 and was in remission for about a year. Then during a routine follow-up appointment in October of 2023, a scan of her chest showed lymphoma. She has been in treatment since, and in June of 2024 she received a bone marrow transplant.
When Eden was a freshman she was a swimmer on her high school swim team. She started having knee pain in her right leg towards the end of the season. At first, she wondered if she had perhaps injured her leg while doing a flip-turn. However, she couldn’t recall any specific incident that would have caused an injury. Despite follow-ups with various healthcare professionals, the pain continued to increase with a limp forming and getting worse the longer she went undiagnosed. It was becoming difficult for her to sleep or attend school due to the pain in her leg. Eventually, she connected with a specialist who was able to x-ray her leg and help her get further imaging that led to a diagnosis.
Eden currently has a weakened immune system. She typically social distances and isolates as much as possible. She has also had some difficulty walking and sometimes can get off balance due to some of the side effects of the prior chemotherapy. For long distances, she uses a wheelchair. For shorter distances, she used a walker.
Eden has had surgery, been under anesthesia multiple times for biopsies and placements of medical devices, and has taken multiple different medications for many different things. As a family, we are doing okay, but definitely appreciate all of the love, support, and generosity from our family, friends, and those in our community. Organizations like yours are so wonderful and truly help so much. Eden was looking for senior pictures and connecting with Kara and learning about this organization was such a blessing!
It has impacted all aspects of our family life. As a family, we have adjusted our routine as Eden now does virtual school and needs medications throughout the day. As parents, we have learned how to manage an IV line at home and administer different meds. Even with the changes to our family life, we still have fun as a family and have movie nights as well as days out on the weekends.
Eden is truly a beautiful person inside and out. She has been so resilient and has been able to maintain a positive attitude and good spirits while dealing with the most difficult of challenges. She has handled things with maturity and grace. She is a true partner in her care and advocates for herself and her needs. She has continued to complete school credits virtually and is hoping to rejoin in-person school sometime this year. Eden enjoys a variety of activities. She particularly loves theater and being on the stage in plays and musicals. Eden is also an avid reader and has shelves of books. She is interested in history and she is considering being a teacher or school guidance counselor in the future. She is also interested in pursuing opportunities in theater in the future.
