Emma

Meet Emma. Emma is a 5 year old girl who loves horses, unicorns, chili, horses, princesses, horses, and ham. Oh, and did I mention horses? When Emma was three years old she started breathing funny. It was a strange wheezing sound. We took her to her pediatrician, and she was diagnosed with an allergic croup. Ten days later, Emma stopped breathing. We had gone to the zoo that day, and were in the car on the way home when it happened. She was asleep, and woke up gasping. She couldn’t get any air, and she passed out after a few moments. I (her mom) started CPR, and my husband called 911. She was taken to the nearest hospital where a breathing tube was inserted. She was transported to a larger hospital, and had a CT scan that revealed a mass in her chest/throat area. It had wrapped around her windpipe and crushed it. The doctors at the larger hospital were amazed that the ER docs were able to get a breathing tube down. She was medflighted to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, where she was diagnosed with and began treatment for Acute Lymphoblastic Lymphoma. At the time, her chances were slim. They said that her mass was pressing on the main artery to her brain, and if it didn’t shrink within 48 hours she would die. 

But it did shrink, and Emma is alive and well today. Her treatment is long—two and a half years. She has faced many challenges, including the loss of her ability to walk. It took her about 3 months to learn to walk again. This is one reason that the shoes from Peach’s Neet Feet mean so much to me. Emma’s feet are like trophies saying, “Look what I can do!” What better way to decorate them than with such a fantastic piece of art? And the beautiful shoes brighten Emma’s day. What else could I ask for? 

Katie (Emma’s mom) maintains a blog dedicated to all things pediatric cancer—and living with it. You can read more at www.ramblingsofacancerkidmom.blogspot.com. 

Read more: Emma

Dallin

This is Dallin. He just turned 4 years old. He has always been a special kid with his clever little sayings and kind heart but on August 10, 2011 Dallin became a little more special. That day we received the devastating news that he had been diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (A.L.L). As much as we were heartbroken and devastated to learn that our perfect little boy was facing such a challenging disease, we felt equally blessed to live in a day and age where he has access to the medicine and technology to potentially cure him. His prognosis is good (80% that the chemo will work) and he has been responding well to treatment (he achieved remission early in treatment) but it will be a long grueling journey.

If all goes well and as planned, his treatment will be at least 3 years long. Currently, he is in one of the most difficult phases of chemo, delayed intensification. He has suffered some setbacks during this phase including surgery and as I write this, we are in-patient in the hospital, but when his pain, nausea and discomfort are manageable with the help of meds, he is still a bright happy kid.

As I do my best to keep and foster that light in his eyes that chemo can sometimes gloom, I came across Peach's Neet Feet. I am so impressed with this organization and especially with Madison. These shoes are not just beautifully executed but an inspiration and beacon of hope to the families they touch. Dallin still has over 2-1/2 years of treatment to go but if we stick together and take it one step at a time, we can reach our goal. Thank you Peach's Neet Feet for brightening up our soles and souls!

Mikie

Mikie Bloomingdale has 2 massive brain tumors pushing on his brain stem, everyone please pray for him and we will keep you all updated. He had his first surgery on October 19, 2010 and they removed most of the larger tumor. There were some vascular issues but they got it under control. His heart is holding up and going strong now. His tumors are what they call Glioma Cancer. He has started his chemo

Mikie is now over a year old and has fought with the tumors for over a year. The doctors have decided that his tumors are stable enough to take him off chemo. He has had problems with blood infections lately but the doctors are working on fixing that. He is a miracle baby.

Dylan

In June of 2010 our lives were normal, in July they changed forever. Dylan was three and a half years old when he was diagnosed with Pre-B Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia on July 27th. In the weeks prior he seemed like a normal three year old but the week before he was having trouble sleeping, had odd bruising and ran a low grade fever. We had initially thought it was him just getting back on track from being on vacation but when I noticed that his lymph nodes were enlarged and I called his pediatrician. As soon as his doctor walked in he noticed that Dylan was pale and he already suspected the worst. He then ordered a CBC and ran the numbers three times to make sure he was getting accurate results. He came in and told us that we needed to go to the University of Iowa Children’s Hospital and go to the pediatric hematology/oncology ward and that it could be anything from a virus to leukemia. When we arrived they had a room ready for us and started Dylan on an IV. They already suspected the worst. In the following days his stomach pain got worse and worse and they told us it was from his liver and spleen being so enlarged due to trying to process out the excess blast cells in his blood and they put him on a very high dose of morphine. On the 27th they confirmed it was cancer with a bone marrow test and he was scheduled to have a port-a-cath placed. We stayed in the hospital for almost two weeks trying to get him comfortable and stable enough to go home and he needed to be off the morphine completely.

Coming home was terrifying. We were taught how to care for him and all the things we had to change. All the little things you do as parents were taken away, like blowing on hot food, sharing a milkshake or kisses on the lips. We had to make sure every little break in the skin was cleaned with alcohol as soon as it happened and no bandages could be left on for more than 24 hours. We were going back to the hospital almost weekly in the first five months for the harder parts of chemotherapy. We received good news on August 27th that Dylan was in remission and that treatment had worked. We were extremely relieved but we knew we still had three years of treatment ahead of us and it was going to be a bumpy road. He has been hospitalized four times for a fever over 101 and once for a cut that we couldn’t clean well enough. When he is admitted for a fever we have to stay for a mandatory three days to make sure there isn’t an infection and that his blood counts are going up rather than down. Thankfully we have great nurses and doctors that really care and try their best to make us comfortable.

Hearing “your child has cancer” is devastating but you find a strength inside that you didn’t know you had and it takes over. You adapt and get on with life making it as normal as you possibly can and you appreciate the little things even more. Sometimes we miss out on fun things or have to have him wear masks to be safe but when it is your child’s health and well being that hangs in the balance you do everything possible. Life can get overwhelming at times and it’s okay to cry but I remember that no matter how bad things seem for us that they could be worse and it snaps me out of my funk and I get on with life and enjoy every second I have with my children.