Blayne loves to cook and loves to game. He is an old soul who loves to listen to jazz and loves his mama dearly.
Blayne was diagnosed with Desmoplastic small round cell tumor on January 13th 2021. Prior to his diagnosis, he was having trouble eating and had a bulge in his stomach. Upon scanning, over 400 tumors were found in his chest and abdomen!
He has had 10 rounds of Infusion inpatient chemo, an 18 hour surgery where they removed 373 tumors and a foot of colon, appendix and gall bladder. He also had 6 weeks of full body radiation (5 days a week 40 minutes a day) and 3 months of maintenance chemo. Now that his cancer has come back after a 6-month remission, he is on month 2 of oral chemo.
Cancer has changed our lives in a major way! I am a single mom to Blayne and his 4-year-old brother. Having to be away from Blayne’s little brother during hospital stays along with being off of work has been hard.
Blayne is a true inspiration. He has never once complained about his circumstances.
Lorelai is the best thing. She makes everyone happy. She is so sweet and so sassy. She just puts a smile on your face.
Lorelai was diagnose with Langerhans Cell Histiocytosis in December of 2022. Langerhans is a rare cancer-like condition that causes an overgrowth of histiocytes. This overgrowth results in tumors that cause damage to surrounding bones, tissues, and organs.
Just before her diagnosis, Lorelai was having difficulty walking and eventually could not put any weight on her legs. Her treatment consists of chemo.
Cancer has had a big impact on our daily lives. Lorelai can’t be in daycare or start school. We can’t have her around her brother who is her best friend because he goes to daycare and is in kindergarten. We have to keep the kids separated which is very hard. Due to these separations, I see her less, sometimes only once a week for chemo.
Lorelai has gone through everything in the book; from the time I was pregnant with her – she was not supposed to be born – she has fought battle after battle. She has spent time and been treated in every pediatric department in our hospital and still, she is fighting
Destiny loves horseback riding and it is one of the things she most looks forward to being able to do again. She loves makeup and dressing up, and has a dream to be a model one day. She loves her family and friends, going to youth group, and school/homeschool activities.
Destiny was diagnosed with Aplastic Anemia in July 2021. Before her diagnosis, she experienced unrelenting headaches, blurry vision, shortness of breath, and fatigue.
Destiny had a bone marrow transplant on April 13th, 2022 during which she received chemo and ATG. The bone marrow transplant process was hard on her entire body. She continues to heal from the transplant. Destiny’s 3yr old brother (who has autism) was her bone marrow donor!
Our lives have changed significantly. There have been so many appointments and treatments in the nine months leading up to the transplant. There were many missed outings/activities/fun during that entire time, up until now. She is finally getting her energy and stamina back. During her transplant the entire family relocated 3 1/2 hours from home, for 2 1/2 months, to be with Destiny. The entire family was affected in many ways.
Eekiel (Zeke) loves to make others laugh and knows how! He’s a typical little wild child. He loves Paw Patrol and doing anything his big brother is doing!
Zeke was diagnosed with Pleuropulmonary Blastoma in April of 2022. Our niece was diagnosed back in 2015 when she was two. Several members of our family were checked for the same genetic mutation she had and we tested positive. Once I started having kids, they were tested and my second son tested positive. He had surgery on part of his lung back in 2021 and had a second one in April 2022. This time it was malignant and he would need chemotherapy.
Cancer has changed the way we live our lives – we tend not to go out in public as much. Zeke is not able to go to Mother’s Day out so he stays at home while his older brother attends.
Brandi is a very positive child. At 20 months she has no words, communicates through a few signs and gestures, but it doesn’t hold her back. She’s almost always happy. Her favorite character is Elmo and sometimes Mickey, but she loves watching wrestling shows with her daddy.
In February of last year, she had nausea and weight loss due to obstructive hydrocephalus, caused by her tumor. She was diagnosed with Anaplastic Ependymoma.
She has had multiple surgeries for shunts and tumor resection. For about 6 months she was on feeding tube and unable to eat solids. She was given a very short prognosis (1-3 months) and has been on hospice since leaving the hospital. Brandi has outlived her prognosis by 5 months. She is on oral chemotherapy to control the tumor growth. She is unable to walk or talk because of her tumor.
Brandi’s cancer has made us afraid to live more than a few weeks or months in advance. There is no saying when things will change for her again.This child has gone through so much and misses out on a lot because of her cancer and subsequent disabilities, but it doesn’t hold her back or bother her because that is all she knows. She is a fighter!
Mason has always been full of life and loves to make his peers laugh! He enjoys baseball and has been on a team since the age of 4 years old. He has gotten back into sports and is working of gaining his self esteem back! We are so proud of him!
Early last year Mason was experiencing odd symptoms like headaches, dizziness, vomiting and face paralysis. He was diagnosed with Ependymona, a type of brain cancer, on January 11th of 2017.
His treatment plan consisted of a 14 hour brain surgery, 33 radiation treatments,and 5 weeks of intensive inpatient rehab. He had to learn to walk, talk, eat and many more basics again.
We are still healing in many ways. His 7 year old sister lost her family for 5 weeks and still experience sadness and loss around this topic. Mason is terrified of any symptoms related to his diagnosis (which he still experiences frequently through the healing process). We have tried our whole life to protect our children and this diagnosed destroyed our sense of safety and security for our children; no matter what we feed them and how safe we keep them, some things are out of our control!
