Ellie is a loving, bright, kind, creative and energetic 5 year old girl who was adopted at birth by her parents Avery and Melinda. She loves princesses, her favorite colors are pink and purple, and she enjoys trips to Disney World. She loves to know everything about her medical issues and hopes to be a pediatric oncology nurse one day. She is full of energy and a ray of sunshine. She loves her little sister and they love playing together (most of the time!)
On August 24, 2015 Ellie was diagnosed with hepatosplenic gamma delta T cell lymphoma, an extremely rare cancer. She is the youngest patient known to be diagnosed with his type of lymphoma. Her only hope for a cure is a bone marrow transplant. Ellie was due to begin kindergarten on August 25, 2015 but because of the treatment required she will be unable to attend school until either the second half of first or the beginning of second grade. She has been robbed of a portion of her life, but we are all hopeful that these treatments will give her many more years full of life to life.
Ellie’s little sister Jayda (age 3) is her perfect match. Jayda had a bone marrow harvesting surgery to extract the cells from her marrow to donate to her big sister two days before Thanksgiving. She is very protective of being able to do this for her big sister and save her life. Ellie’s transplant was Thanksgiving Day day of 2015. It was officially coined “transplantgiving” by one of our favorite nurses. We will be forever thankful for our miracle girls and our beatiful family.
Hope session by Christi Allen Curtis | Facebook | Instagram
These pictures are beautiful! I am thankful every day that Ellie fought through grueling schedules of chemo, radiation, feeding tubes and so much more. Jayda gave her life, a special bond between sisters. Thank you for doing this for my family as well as the other familes. I will cherish these pictures forever. I have a special bond with these girls. I am their grandmother they call me Nan.