Alyssa was diagnosed with leukemia on 03/28/2019. A few weeks before her diagnosis she was sleeping a lot, not eating much, bruises on her leg, and spots on her legs, arm, and behind her left ear (petechiae).
Our daughter had surgery to install a port du cart in the chest, to do this they had to place a line in through her neck to find the correct vein for her heart. A port is installed in her chest under her skin and a needle and line have to be inserted into the port so she can receive chemotherapy. She has also had to undergo a bone marrow biopsy, and a number of spinal taps to deliver chemotherapy to her spinal fluid. She has received multiple types of chemotherapy into her port, such as vincristine, pegaspargase, doxorubicin as well as regular antibiotics and steroids.
Due to Alyssa’s treatment causing her immune system to become low, we always have to be cautious of germs and viruses as any infection can be very dangerous for her. The steroids she takes can cause her to have mood swings and to gain weight quickly. Luckily, we only have short doses of steroids since we are in maintenance so these effects are lessened. As a family, we always struggle when her spinal tap and when her main vincristine dose is due since she is put under general anesthetic and we have to leave our daughter in the operating room.
Our lives have changed quite a lot! When Alyssa was diagnosed our family was living in Boston. We were only living in America for 6 months when she was diagnosed. We had planned to stay in America for 3 years. Not having family in America, we made the decision to return to Ireland. We’ve had to be more aware of our surroundings in relation to friends and family coming to see us. If they are in any way ill we can’t see them. We have to be more flexible in work as there can be times where she might have to stay in the hospital because of a fever. Alyssa gets a lot of our attention and we have to be conscious of this. Our son doesn’t get as much attention as before but he is an amazing big brother to Alyssa. He helps us out all the time for an 11-year old that is a lot!
Alyssa has such a great positive personality! She is always smiling and laughing and even after treatment days will always have a smile on her face. She is just an amazingly strong little girl. She’s my inspiration!
Hope session by R&R Photography | Facebook | Instagram