Our son Booker was diagnosed with AML Leukemia on July 31, 2021. This has been a whirlwind few months and we are still trying to get used to our new normal.
Prior to Booker’s diagnosis, Booker was a very active and independent little boy. During the month of July, we started noticing some small gradual changes in his behavior. He stopped kicking the soccer ball, his appetite dwindled, and he wanted to be helped a lot more. Then he had a low-grade temp for 7 days straight. After back and forth with the pediatrician, they urged us to go to the ER. At the ER, they ran tests and found abnormal blood cells that looked like leukemia. It was there we were transferred to Comer Hospital and where we received his official diagnosis, AML.
We are currently enrolled in intense chemo treatment. Chemo involves around a 10-day hospital stay and then depending on his condition he can come home and rest while his counts/ANC come up. It’s been hard on our family because we also have a 4-year-old son, Rex, and he can’t come to the hospital. So it’s been hard having our family separated while in treatment. We don’t have any family close by so it’s been a lot on my husband and myself trying to balance it all.
One thousand percent this has changed our family! As a parent, you want to protect your kids, and to watch your young children face really hard challenges that most adults would crumble at is devastating. We now know how fragile life is and how special every moment we have with each other. But through this, I have also witnessed major strength from all of us. We are not close to being out of the woods but step by step we trudge through together. Figuring out the balance of our new normal has also been a tough adjustment, we all have our breakdown moments.
As hard as this chapter is for our family, I don’t want to bypass it. I want a snapshot of photos of our family and Booker so when he gets older, I can show him what a brave and strong boy he is. I want him to see how he conquered hard things with love and strength.
Hope session by Candace Rogers Photography | Facebook | Instagram