Everett is well-spoken, intelligent, and curious. He loves trains, being outdoors, and enjoying life. He is so very kind and sweet and a little feisty too! He loves family time at home the best or anywhere that the three of us spend quality alone time together. He’s very family-oriented and a big mama’s boy who enjoys lots of snuggles. His new kitty Arthur makes him laugh the hardest right now but he also likes to play tricks on Daddy and play “tickle-chase” or “catch that bad guy” both games involving one or both of his parents chasing him around the house in attempts to catch him in an intense police chase or to tickle him depending on the chosen game.
Everett was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL) in December of 2020, a mere few months after his 2nd birthday. He became sick with what seemed like a virus—or so we were told and reassured the multiple times I took him in to see a LIP. He became increasingly irritable, clingy, fatigued, febrile, and pale. I knew something else was going on so I took him into urgent care and the MD listened to my concerns and tested him for everything. His hemoglobin came back critically low and she informed me to take him to the nearest ER immediately and thus began his work up followed by his diagnosis.
Everett has endured countless lumbar punctures, he’s undergone surgery for port placement, had a bronchoscopy, three bone marrow aspirations, and a multitude of chemo drugs given via IV, a shot, or orally. He has also had chemo injected into his spine (CNS Fluid) and has had way too many Covid swabs to count—his absolute least favorite thing in the whole wide world and the very thing that causes him the most anxiety. He has had many needle pokes and port accesses and we’ve had to be incredibly cautious because of the severe immunocompromised state he was in during the pandemic. Everett continues to be Immunocompromised, has fluctuating eating habits, an implanted port, neuropathy, anxiety and some PTSD.
Cancer has absolutely changed our lives; it has brought us closer together but it has also created a lot of anxiety and emotional trauma along with the physical and mental pains and traumas Everett has experienced firsthand.
We are so thrilled to reach these big milestones and to end treatment when not long ago it felt like these days were forever away. We are excited to share the world with our son and give him a taste of some of the greater things life has to offer and also to just let him be a young boy who can jump and splash into puddles without the significant fear of possibly falling ill. We want him to be able to live and do the things he wants to do. There is also a dark side to this in that chemo has been our safety net for so long – it’s a scary to think that we are coming off the very med that helped kill the cancer that was trying to take our boy from us.
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