Allyson is the bravest of all she is always positive and never complains of anything she has gone through.
Allyson has been fighting cancer for the last two years. Her first treatment was really hard and she spent a lot of days in the hospital. Once she was done, she was cancer-free for just 3 months and after a visit to the ER, a CT scan revealed the cancer was back.
She needed to do more treatment but this time the treatment was not as hard. She did have pain and side effects though. A week after she finished the second treatment, she started to feel really dizzy and off-balance. Once again we heard the same words “the cancer is back” and it was now in her brain.
We couldn’t believe it since she had just finished treatment but I guess this cancer found a way to grow even while getting chemotherapy. This time the doctors don’t have much hope. They are only giving Allyson a 20% chance.
This is so unfair and so painful. My heart hurts so much knowing that she has to fight so hard to be cancer-free and be a kid again. As a mother, I always want the best for my children. I want them to be happy, to be healthy, and to have a nice life. This feels so wrong in a million different ways. I guess there is no other way than to keep fighting and enjoy every minute of our lives together. We will hope for the best and keep praying for the miracle that she needs.
Sadie is a little bossy girl! She has a lot of love for her big brother Cameron. She loves hatchimals and playing with her dolls. She loves swimming and going to the zoo. Her favorite thing to do in the summer is to feed the giraffes.
Sadie was diagnosed with Embryonal Rhabdomyosarcoma at just two years old. It was hard to communicate with a 2-year-old. Sadie was at full-time daycare, and her teacher would say she is complaining a lot of her belly hurting and just wanting to snuggle most of the day. At home, she had a bowel movement, and the tumor bulged outside of her vagina. We went to urgent care and the tumor had already gone back up inside of her body. The doctors thought it was urethral prolapse, and they sent us to urology. The event happened 3 more times before a diagnosis was discovered.
A few days later Sadie had a biopsy and port placed in her chest. The biopsy showed Sadie had an embryonal rhabdomyosarcoma tumor. Luckily the cancer was seen only in the vaginal area so it was not metastatic. They removed an ovary for freezing because they could not guarantee she would be able to have children after all if her treatment.
I would say Sadie’s big brother is her best supporter. When she is in pain, he lays with her and rubs her back and legs, and tells her she is going to be ok. He helps to distract from the pain.
Emotionally the processing this is draining. My husband and I luckily have a wonderful family support. My husband works full time and is able to use FMLA when needed, and I am now working 4 days a week instead of 5. My sisters and sister in law help to take Sadie to chemo during the week on their days off. My mom is committed to caring for Sadie every Friday. Other family members fill in when needed. We are very blessed with the support we have.
I never thought I would have to experience watching my own daughter fight this fight. she is strong, and beautiful and brave and I know in my heart she will beat this.
Kasey is a remarkable 18-year-old, she is extremely athletic. She loves animals and the beach. She heading to college in 2020 to study marine biology.
Kasey has just turned 13 when she was dx with Rhabdomyosarcoma. She was diagnosed on November 11th, 2014. Twelve days earlier, Kasey woke up one morning with swelling on her cheek and tooth pain. Her tumor had filled her entire sinus cavity and was growing up behind her eye.
Kasey underwent 42 rounds of aggressive chemotherapy and 33 sessions of proton radiation. She has many ongoing side effects from treatment.
We are all forever changed. Watching our child fight for her life so intensely broke our hearts but also reminded us that life is short and must be lived to its fullest. When we came out of treatment, we vowed to give back. Kasey has helped raise 10 million dollars with Ace Hardware Foundation for CMN hospitals in 2016.
Kasey wasn’t suppose to survive this cancer, not many people with her diagnosis do. Her cancer also has a high relapse rate which is why Kasey chooses to live life fully, sometimes there aren’t enough hours in the day for her!
Harper can be shy, but once she opens up, she’s so funny & smart. She loves any kind of art, & she loves to cook. Her Make A Wish was to meet Rosanna Pansino from the Nerdy Nummies YouTube channel. She got to decorate cake pops with her and she loved it. She loves to read, especially stories about inspiring women from history. She loves playing Mario Kart & Legend of Zelda. When she grows up she wants to be a chef who runs a camp for kids with cancer to learn to cook.
On July 7th of 2017, Harper was diagnosed with Rhabdomyosarcoma. Her leg had started hurting in May and after multiple doctor visits, we still didn’t have a reason why. Eventually she was limping noticeably and waking up in pain at night. Her father is in the Navy and he was away training at the time. He came home at the end of June and by then she had started losing weight from loss of appetite. In retrospect, these are classic symptoms of cancer in children. Over the 4th of July she began having stomachaches and we scheduled her an appointment with her doctor. The night before, her pain became severe so we took her to the ER. They suspected appendicitis & did an ultrasound. Instead, they found a 10cm tumor wrapped around her liver and kidney, and beginning to invade her spinal column.
Harper recently finished chemo, but she has struggled to gain weight & has a feeding tube. She also has some neuropathy in her feet from the chemo drugs that sometimes cause her to limp or trip easily. We aren’t sure yet if the chemo will have any long term effects. In total, Harper has had 40 weeks of chemotherapy, 28 days of abdominal radiation, and 4 surgeries. She has spent over 30 nights in the hospital, & missed her entire 2nd grade year of school. We are very lucky in that she hasn’t had many of the complications that are common for kids going through treatment. We also have excellent insurance, which has been a lifesaver. But, it has been hard juggling Harper’s needs with our 2 younger children, and my husband’s job.
Harper was diagnosed 3 months after we transferred here, & only a week after my husband returned from a 3 month training out of state so we don’t really feel like we’ve had a chance to really start living in Hawaii. Everything has kind of been on hold. Even now that she’s finished active treatment, she has 5 years of scans & blood tests before she’s considered “cured”. There are so many potential late effects from treatment, from infertility to other cancers, that I don’t know that we will ever be able to put this completely behind us.
