Natalie was diagnosed with leukemia on 10/5/23 at only 15 months old. We have been taking her to the Toledo Children’s Hospital for 7.5 months of treatment. She has about 2 months left and then she will start maintenance!
Before her diagnosis, she refused to walk anymore after she slipped one day in the kitchen in September. We took her to the doctor and she got x-rays but they couldn’t figure out anything wrong. She also had what looked like pimples on her face that then started to look like an allergic reaction. I had an appointment scheduled for the doctor to look at this but we were still a few days away from that appointment. Then she had a bunch of bruises on her arms, and the next morning she woke up with a fever, so I called the doctor right then and insisted we get in as quickly as possible. The doctor sent her straight to the hospital to be admitted. She was diagnosed the next day and had her port surgically put in the day after that so that she could start chemo right away.
Natalie had surgery the day after being diagnosed. She has had over 100 appointments since being diagnosed, plus she has had about 15 lumbar punctures done under sedation and tons of shots, plus lots of medications required at home.
I was already off work due to health issues of my own that I was trying to get sorted out before going back to work, so after Natalie’s diagnosis, her dad also had to stay home to help me because it was all just too much on me. So we have just been living on our savings and trying to get to maintenance so that we can try to get our life back in order.
Hope session by Cynthia Dawson Photography | Facebook | Instagram