Eleanor is Little Miss Sunshine. Her voice, her smile the way she cares and helps everyone around her. She talks about maybe being a nurse when she grows up. She is enjoying therapeutic horseback riding and dance, she loves books and plays. She plays cello and sings, loves art, and will try to be a part of life as much as possible. She is famous for saying “today was the best day ever.” And we all try to live like that and take not one moment for granted with her and each other.
Eleanor was diagnosed with high-risk Infant Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia at 6 months old and spent most of the next 2 + years of the beginning of her life in the hospital in Buffalo, NY fighting for it. She has been surviving against all odds since then. She continues to face many uphill battles and long-term late side effects because of the harsh treatments.
Before she was diagnosed, she had begun sleeping more, feeding less, and was first thought to have a double ear infection. The morning she was diagnosed, she never woke up from nighttime sleeping.
Her treatment protocol was chemotherapy only. But, she is having neurocognitive functioning problems associated with memory and executive functioning, attention, processing speed, and learning retention resulting from her chemotherapies. Eleanor is considered at high risk for cardiomyopathy, diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, osteoporosis, osteopenia, avascular necrosis, hemorrhagic cystitis, and secondary malignancies, including leukemias and melanomas.
We all struggle with PTSD, anxiety, depression, financial issues, and security. But we all look out for each other, we are very protective of each other, we are a family of four and it’s been mostly just us sticking together the best we know how trying to keep afloat.
This September 2nd we will be celebrating her and her 10th year of surviving cancer as we look back on this mountain we have climbed together.
Hope Session by Ashley Sweeney Photography | Instagram | Facebook