Joshua is very outgoing, he loves to hang out with friends and play video games. Before he got sick he was playing football and baseball and would like to return to those sports in the future. While in the hospital he spent a lot of time coming up with ways to prank the nurses on his shift. He developed a club where everyone that entered his room to attempt to do a trick to put their name on the list, it became so popular even the doctors were stopping by to try. He is so kind and would have snack time each day 2x times a day to the nurses where he would pass out candy, snacks, and treats for them. He is always smiling and rarely has a bad day.
On March 13th of 2021, Joshua was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia. Before his diagnosis, he was struggling with a sore throat that would just not go away. I had taken him to the doctor’s a couple of times but they thought he was dealing with mono. On the 3rd visit, I asked that they actually test him for mono and that is when they found that something was really wrong.
He did 4 rounds of very intensive chemo, where he had to live at the hospital. From March until September he was only able to come home 3 times for a few days. He has had to endure several bone marrow biopsies, transfusions, and a broviac line placed in his chest. It was extremely hard to have to live at the hospital and have the family split up. We have an older son, so I and my husband rotated days at the hospital so that one parent was always with the other child. So the family was separated for about six months. Our older son was not allowed to visit his brother due to Covid and that was really hard – they had to meet outside for about 5 minutes at a time to see each other.
Some things are the same as before cancer and some things have changed. I think we were a close family before Joshua was diagnosed and that has probably made us closer and appreciate being together more. I think that it has changed me in the fact that I am always consumed with the “what ifs” now that he is home and done with treatment. I think it makes it a bit hard to live in the present. I feel for Joshua that it really did not change him, he hopped right back into life where he left off.
Joshua is currently in remission from AML and is back in school, living life to the fullest. His hair has almost grown back in which he is very excited about. He loves to visit the nurses who cared for him when he is there for his checkups and wants to volunteer at the hospital when he is old enough.
Hope Session by All Stages Photography | Facebook