Zoe is a deep feeling and caring person. She likes to talk and go for hikes. She loves art, anime, and gaming. Zoe also likes to volunteer and help others. This girl also adores her cat, Lucius. She has a great laugh. Puns and jokes relating to her gaming can bring it out.
In August of 2012, one week into 7th grade, Zoe was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. Leading up to her diagnosis, her skin had been itchy and then a lump became visible on both sides of her neck. Her face had also broken out with pimples. Treatment involved chemotherapy, radiation, biopsies, surgeries, and countless pokes and scans. Zoe has side effects from treatment but she is learning how to live with this new normal. She struggles with memory loss, anxiety, depression, and PTSD.
Our family will always be haunted by the cancer. Is it back? Is it a new cancer? It will never end. We just take one day at a time and enjoy every day to its fullest. Together. Like many, I still struggle financially after all of this but Zoe’s health and happiness is what matters most to me. There are things Zoe doesn’t do anymore. She used to play competitive fast pitch softball. It was her life and she had played since she was 5. She says she misses it sometimes but she has also started new things. Zoe has an older brother that was in his senior year of high school when she was diagnosed. It took some attention away from him but he was concerned about his sister too. I tried keeping their worlds separate at the time. I stayed with Zoe, taking care of her and taking her to treatments while I sent Zane off to experience and enjoy his life. We also lost friendships in this process but it only made the three of us that much closer.
Zoe is now in her senior year of high school, turning 18 in March, and reached her 5th year in remission! She will be attending UNLV in the fall. We have a lot to celebrate. Zoe also uses her position within her service organization, the International Order of the Rainbow for Girls, as a platform to spread childhood cancer awareness.
Max is a positive force. He is very logical and extremely intelligent. Throughout this whole ordeal he has never felt sorry for himself or even called attention to himself. He’s at that awkward age where the struggle needed to be private. Family and close friends know, as well as teachers who needed to be updated, however he never went public with anything. His upbeat, positive, quiet acceptance is an inspiration to me. He hasn’t let it slow him down or get in the way of his goals. He even went to school the day after diagnosis! His academic goals continue to come first and he is graduating in June 2018 as valedictorian of his class! So, it’s pretty obvious that academics mean a lot to him. He also likes to play the piano and composes music in his spare time. He loves computers and is the webmaster at his high school, as well as a technology tutor at the local library. Additionally, he ran cross-country and track all four years ( when he felt healthy enough). I may be biased, but he’s a pretty amazing kid.
In December of 2015, he was experiencing fatigue and large swollen lymph nodes. Max was diagnosed with Nodular Lymphocyte Predominant Hodgkin’s Lymphoma in 12/2015 after an excisional biopsy surgery. He is being treated at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital under a new “watch and wait” protocol for pediatric patients. He is seen every 3 months by his oncologist. He also had a total thyroidectomy in May 2016 due to suspected thyroid lymphoma and extreme growth of his thyroid gland and nodules. He has also had a spontaneous pneumothorax that might or might not be related to his condition. There was no clear reason for the pneumothorax. He has faced a lot of uncertainty in the last 2 years but has continued to thrive.
The ” watch and wait” or “watch and worry” as I like to call it, affects us every day. Not a day goes by that we don’t scan his neck for lumps or ask about his energy level. We are blessed beyond belief that he has not had to have any treatment at this point. As parents, we hope we chose the right path for our son.The nature of his disease has a high relapse rate and he’s old enough to be aware of that. The addition of losing his thyroid and the uncertainty prior to and following the thyroid surgery was also extremely challenging. Had the cancer moved to his thyroid? Was it back? Is the best treatment a total removal of his thyroid that would require daily medication? To sum it up, our family life is full of questions and uncertainty, but also hope, positivity, and prayer.
Ellie is a loving, bright, kind, creative and energetic 5 year old girl who was adopted at birth by her parents Avery and Melinda. She loves princesses, her favorite colors are pink and purple, and she enjoys trips to Disney World. She loves to know everything about her medical issues and hopes to be a pediatric oncology nurse one day. She is full of energy and a ray of sunshine. She loves her little sister and they love playing together (most of the time!)
On August 24, 2015 Ellie was diagnosed with hepatosplenic gamma delta T cell lymphoma, an extremely rare cancer. She is the youngest patient known to be diagnosed with his type of lymphoma. Her only hope for a cure is a bone marrow transplant. Ellie was due to begin kindergarten on August 25, 2015 but because of the treatment required she will be unable to attend school until either the second half of first or the beginning of second grade. She has been robbed of a portion of her life, but we are all hopeful that these treatments will give her many more years full of life to life.
Ellie’s little sister Jayda (age 3) is her perfect match. Jayda had a bone marrow harvesting surgery to extract the cells from her marrow to donate to her big sister two days before Thanksgiving. She is very protective of being able to do this for her big sister and save her life. Ellie’s transplant was Thanksgiving Day day of 2015. It was officially coined “transplantgiving” by one of our favorite nurses. We will be forever thankful for our miracle girls and our beatiful family.
Austin loves Pokemon, baseball, football, and science. He loves to watch cat videos and America’s Funniest Home Videos. He really does love to laugh!
Austin has been fighting illness since he contracted E.Coli and his kidneys stopped working when he was 2 1/2. Austin had a kidney transplant and he was complaining of pain while urinating and back pain. He collapsed at school in pain. That night, we figured out he had a mass and the next morning we found out the baseball sized mass was likely PTLD Burkits Lymphoma.
In the begining of treatment, there were many dark days. Austin has endured 9 lumbar punctures, 2 PET Scans, 4 rounds of chemo. He has been dealing with the fear of having cancer and maybe not making it. We were in the process of moving across the country when he was diagnosed. It has been difficult to move and have Austin in the hospital most of the time.
Our two other kids struggle with not having our family together. It is hard on all of our family relationships with each another. We miss having our family together. It is hard to see Austin sick and there have been moments when the doctors didn’t give us great odds. Cancer has allowed us to be more grateful and want to take it day by day. We want to be closer as a family and not take our time together for granted.
Austin has a great attitude. He faces each infusion, procedure, operation, IV, or chemo treatment with optimisim and no complaints. He has had a lifetime of enduring pain and not feeling well. It was hard to then get cancer on top of that. It’s been a challenge and at moments it’s felt really unfair. But we get a lot strength from his expample.
Damian can be shy and also outgoing. He loves to play outside and had a tough time learning to keep busy and entertain himself indoors. He loves water, pools and oceans but not showers. He loves telling jokes and spending time with his family. He’s very smart and is a big fan of YouTube. He walks around talking to his tablet recording videos as if he’s started a vlog. He loves superheroes (Marvel and DC) and Minecraft. His favorite food is pizza and loves going to Peter Piper Pizza where he can play games! He’s also very in love with his new baby sister but, is having a little bit of a hard time seeing all the attention she is getting. He’s a very sweet and polite kid. He is the world not just to me and his dad, but to so many people who after meeting him once, he leaves a mark with them.
Damian was admitted to Phoenix Children’s Hospital on January 31st and was officially diagnosed February 3rd with stage 3-4 Burkitts Lymphoma. He had tumors throughout his body, organs and also in his bone marrow. Before he was diagnosed, he had a constant stomach pain that did not seem to go away. The day before being taken to the hospital, he was breathing very heavy during his night sleep. Our initial though was a virus of some sort, maybe even his appendix, as that is what the first hospital he visited stated. Since they did not operate on minors we were sent to Phoenix children’s hospital were we learned otherwise. He spent almost three weeks in the pediatric ICU and had chest tubes in both lungs due to having water in them.
Damian’s treatment plan would be a fast and aggressive. We would have to stay in the hospital during treatment, which were 4-7 days depending on the cycle. He had multiple medications throughout the day and had to learn how to keep busy while inside. Unfortunately, after most of the treatments, he would get very sick due to being immune compromised and we would end back in the hospital until his numbers were back up to normal to go home. Thankfully, we’re were able to get through all that difficulty and had the best care in the hospital.
Damian had to stop kindergarten and practically missed the second half of the year. In addition, both his dad and I stopped working and used the FMLA time we were allowed. We also made the decision to leave the home we were renting and moved in with our parents. We’re slowly returning to our normal life, with a big surprise. During his treatment I learned I was pregnant and just had a baby October 6th. All this has brought our family closer than ever. A child with cancer affects many and we know what loss to this terrible decease is. Now, my hope is Damian can take this difficult time and realize how strong he is and that there is nothing he can’t accomplish.
Damian has finished his treatment and after multiple scans, all tumors are gone and his port has also been removed. My son is a survivor!
Keeton is a sweet, tender hearted, shy boy. He has congenital glaucoma which required many surgeries early in life. That made him shy and gesturing to get to know others. He is very kind and loving. Being with his brothers makes him laugh the most. He enjoys his dog (or any dogs for that matter ) very much!
Leading up to his diagnosis of Non Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, we really didn’t notice any weird symptoms. He only had a slight cough so it was shocking! He has had numerous lumbar punctures, oral chemo, injectible chemo, CT scans, X-rays, IV chemo, bone marrow aspiration, inpatient hospitalization two times.
We struggle as a family keeping him motivated and interactive. I have had to reduce my work hours to stay home more. We have been limited in what we can do, when we can do it and who we can be with. Cancer effects his older brothers as well. Many fluctuations and disruptions. We have had to miss out on our other children’s acrivities as well.
Keeton has fought many battles in his short 12 years on this earth! From glaucoma, to a suspected blood disorder, to growth hormone deficiency, and now cancer. He has fought through all of them and I want to bring his joy back!
