Hunter was diagnosed with Hodgkins Lymphoma on June 14, 2021, after we found a lump on his thigh. He is currently receiving chemotherapy.
We are all doing ok as a family and supporting him and each other. We have faced significant financial struggles due to myself, his mom, taking a leave of absence from work to care for him. Our family dynamic will be forever changed. Hunter is one of four children and this diagnosis will forever change his life and the lives of those that love him.
Hunter has always been an amazing kid and being faced with a cancer diagnosis at 8 years old can certainly obliterate a child’s spirit. Hunter has risen to the occasion, his inner strength, positive attitude, and fighting spirit are admirable. He inspires all of us and there is nothing he can’t do.
His world will forever be changed, this experience and journey have brought him to a new level of maturity at now, just 9 years old. He is amazing! We are so proud of him and want him to be proud of himself. Having beautiful photos would be a way to show that and never forget what beauty and strength he has shown during this time.
Toby was a very healthy and athletic 14-year-old. He had NO symptoms when he was diagnosed with cancer. He had a football injury that ultimately led to a CT scan. By the grace of God, we were able to discover a football-sized mass in his chest. Toby went through chemotherapy & proton radiation. He received a diagnosis of remission in December 2019.
All of Toby’s labs & testing were looking great and he was moving forward. During his 1-year post-treatment scans in August 2019, they discovered the mass was active and he received a diagnosis of relapsed Hodgkins Lymphoma. Toby was devastated. He had to fight again and still hadn’t started high school.
For his Sophomore year of high school, he was fighting for his life for the second time. After the grueling chemotherapy stays in the hospital, Toby finally got the second diagnosis of remission in October 2019. He had to move forward with a bone marrow transplant. Toby was able to have an autologous bone marrow transplant in November 2019. After a month-long stay in the hospital, he was able to come home just in time for Christmas. In January of 2020, Toby started his immunotherapy, and finally, this was his end of treatment in November 2020.
Our family is just trying to heal from all the trauma the past few years. We just want to move forward and learn from this experience. We’ve become a very strong family even more so than before Toby’s journey. Along with Toby’s cancer, I had also been diagnosed with cancer in 2020. Then a pandemic was thrown in there. We have been through some rough storms, but we try to just take one day at a time and try to enjoy all the little things.
Toby rarely if not at all felt sorry for himself. He never wanted or wants anyone to feel sorry for him or treat him differently. He holds his head high with such grace. He feels so much empathy for all children and young adults going through a cancer journey. His ultimate goal is to become a mentor for teens facing the same challenges he had and is still facing. He’s not only strong physically but he is strong enough to face and experience cancer. He’s a true survivor and will fight whatever comes his way.
In 2021, Kendall had complained of chest and shoulder pain for a couple of months, along with needing her inhaler before strenuous dance classes. Physical therapy helped with the pain, so we thought it was either postural or exercise-related.
Over the Memorial Day weekend, Kendall had her spring dance show and was outside dancing for about 6 hours in 52-degree weather. She came down with a cold and fever the next day. We worried about Covid and had her tested multiple times. Finally, after 2 weeks of little improvement, her pediatrician sent her for a chest x-ray. The result said there was a mass consistent with Lymphoma. It took about 2 weeks from that to get a final diagnosis.
Kendall has had countless Xrays, a biopsy of the mass in her chest, bone marrow and spinal tap biopsies, a PET scan, and has had both a PICC and a Broviac. Our main struggle has been keeping her spirits up and getting her through the nightly panic attacks.
I was diagnosed with breast cancer the day before Kendall’s Xray that send us to the hospital. I then tested positive for the BRCA gene. So, once she is done with treatment I will be having both a hysterectomy and full mastectomy/reconstruction.
Calleigh was diagnosed in February of 2021. Before diagnosis, we noticed a large lump on their neck that seemed to come from nowhere- no other symptoms at that time, but within a week they developed pain, muscle weakness, night sweats, and hot flashes.
Calleigh had initial surgery for the biopsy, bone marrow draw, and insertion of a PICC line (a port could not initially be placed due to a large mass in their chest). They receive chemotherapy every 2 weeks- it is done outpatient but it is always a very long day. Three months into treatment the chest mass had shrunk so Calleigh had another surgery to remove the PICC line and place the port.
Being a teenager is hard enough, but being a teenager with cancer is extra hard. The loss of hair was very difficult, they have been struggling with anxiety, depression, and gender identity issues because of all this.
We have had to make lots of adjustments- our family has become very isolated because we fear seeing others and bringing infections to Calleigh. Calleigh has lost interest in a lot of things they used to like. The stress of caring for them has been felt by my husband and myself, but also by Calleigh’s older brother and sister.
We took Christian to the ER when we noticed he started to bump into things at home and was feeling fatigued. It happened so fast. That morning he could see but by the time we were at the ER that evening he was unable to see clearly. They did a CT scan and we were devastated to hear he had a brain mass.
Christian lost all of his vision by that evening. They did a biopsy the next day and was diagnosed with a very aggressive and rare lymphoma (stage 4) that was affecting his brain, kidney, and bone marrow. He was able to regain over 50% of his eyesight thanks to the quick start of his treatment at Dallas Children’s Hospital.
He has gone through five rounds of the most intense chemo that a person can go through due to the aggressiveness of his cancer. Many of our struggles are in limited resources for help, insurance, and financial issues (his treatment has already reached over 1 million dollars).
Our lives are forever changed. We are traumatized that one day he was a normal two-year-old playing on the playground and three days later he is in ICU fighting for his life.
Through it all Christian is full of joy! Everyone mentions it when they meet him and see his updates. Even in his worst and sick days, he will still smile. He truly is captivating and has the best smile because he is so curious and joyful.
When Langley was diagnosed with Lymphoma at the age of 13, it rocked his world. Our whole family was affected by this cancer diagnosis but decided they would count it down as a journey, not forever. Some days felt like forever… We’re happy to share that in the past two years, he completed treatment, is in remission, and went on his wish trip to Alaska! Cancer will forever be part of his past, hopefully never part of his future.
Langley was told by six different doctors it was not cancer – one of which said absolutely not cancer. It started as a 2cc lymph node under his chin, then it was 4cc 5 months later. We went from an ENT and then all the way to infectious diseases who said it was caused by a birth defect. We removed the node after medications failed to shrink it for “cosmetic reasons” 2 weeks before school. Then the call came it was cancer.
Langley’s dad left on active duty 1 week before he got diagnosed. His older brother Eric left for his freshman year of college the week before we started chemo. Missing both of them during this time was extremely hard on Langley. Isabella, his twin, had to be left with a lady from church when we were in the hospital and also had more responsibility for our home & cats in our absence at 13 yrs old.
Since we were fairly new to Florida there was no one to visit us in the hospital. There were no visitors to visit our home for that homebound year or dropped off meals (maybe 1-2). We have no family that could come help. It was a lonely time.
It kinda shell shocked us here. Three years into remission we are trying to find normalcy again between frequent rechecks. Things are getting better .. its been a long road – but we are looking forward not backward.
It’s been a long road, emotionally. He has never given up on faith or trying to recover. He attends oncology camps and that’s when he seems the most himself. He walked into that hospital one person and came out a total emotionally another person. It’s a journey – we just miss counted naively thinking it was over when we left the hospital. Actually, it was just beginning.
