September 1st, 2016 my husband and I received the news no parent should ever hear, “your child has Cancer”. Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL). I remember being put into a tiny room with her now Oncologist, going over the next steps, hearing all the drugs she would be taking and all the possible side effects. I remember hands on my face, elbows on my knees looking down, telling my self to wake up. I even pinched myself. It didn’t feel real. I kept thinking, she’s going to loose her hair. I mean really Maggie, her hair?! I guess it was easier to think about that as opposed to thinking that this could take her life. My husband and I took a few minutes before going back to her room. We broke down, held onto each other in disbelief then sucked it up. We vowed to be as strong as possible for our then 3 year old little girl who was about to face the toughest battle she will ever know.
She stayed in the Hospital for about a Month. It was difficult for my family because her treatments were in DC and we live about 20 minutes North of Baltimore. We had two boys at home and our families lived in Ohio and New Jersey. We had to switch on and off every two days just to make sure our boys had us both, I mean they were going through this just as much as we were.
After that month my sweet, now chubby and slightly irritable baby girl was home ( thanks steroids!).It was very scary being responsible for giving her all the medication but it became my new life and we had to get used to it fast.
When Mia came home, despite her extra chubby cheeks, she looked normal. She didn’t look like she had Cancer. People treated her the same as they would any other child and I made no effort to let them know of her condition. It wasn’t until February when her hair came out. My husband had the hardest time with it. I was trying not to show any emotions because I didn’t want Mia to freak out. Little did any of us know that she loved her new style. She loved being bald! Thank god! So that made it so much easier for us all to accept, but now everyone knows. They could look at her and know she has cancer. That’s when the treatment became different from the other kids. The looks of sympathy. I get it, I did it myself to others. But for some reason it just bothered me that they knew. It took me a week or two to embrace it, I mean Mia was ok, why should it bother me?
Mia is on track to being finished with treatment in November of this year. She has had a few set backs like the Flu and Pneumonia, but nothing too serious which earned her a trip to the Hospital. Her numbers have all been good, but we just recently had a scare because her numbers dropped drastically. Thankfully it was caught in time and everything is back to normal.
This is definitely a journey I never thought I would be on but we have all made the best of it. Mia was able to experience great things because of her diagnosis and be the face of Cancer for foundations. She was the Eastern Shore Maryland Girl of the Year in 2017 for the Leukemia Lymphoma Society and was also the face for an amazing local foundation called Living for Livi. Our family went to Disney World through Make-a-Wish and she was able to wear her Rapunzel wig made by the Magic Yarn Project. Now, it’s almost the end of our journey and we get to capture it thanks to the Gold Hope Project.
I will forever be grateful to my family, friends and community who gave us their support from day one, and to all the Foundations that made good memories for our family darning this difficult time. To you all I say, thank you!
Hope session by Terri Bryant Photography | Facebook | Instagram