Honored Kid Avery is as sweet as pie — going through treatment for childhood cancer hasn’t changed that fact one bit. Her cheeriness in the face of chemo and surgery makes her mom and dad smile, helping them through the roughest times. Read on and we think you’ll find yourself smiling, too!
Avery excitedly throws autumn leaves in the air.
One recent evening, 2-year-old Avery and her mom were playing in their backyard as dad grilled. It was still light, but the moon was clearly visible rising in the sky.
Avery’s mom, Cathy, pointed it out to her daughter. The little girl was delighted.
“She just looks up there and goes, ‘I love you, moon,’” Cathy said. “Like it was out just for her.”
Everyone and everything is Avery’s friend, from the moon to the doctors and nurses at the hospital. Even though they poke her, prod her and give her medicine that makes her feel sick.
Avery has hepatoblastoma, a rare type of liver cancer that is found in kids younger than 3 years old.
Avery gives an enthusiastic thumbs up.
Avery’s diagnosis came soon after her second birthday. During her regular wellness exam, the pediatrician was feeling the little girl’s belly when she noticed a lump.
The doctor sent Avery for an x-ray. Then they did an ultrasound and finally a CT scan to confirm the presence of the tumor.
“You know toddlers have those cute, chubby, round bellies,” Cathy said. “So, you couldn’t even see it. It was totally hidden by her little round belly and there was no way we would have known it was there, unless we were poking and prodding her like the doctor did. There were no symptoms. It was a complete surprise.”
Cathy had taken the day off work to simply bring her daughter to her two-year checkup. By the end of it, her world was upside down.
“When we found out we were just devastated,” Cathy said. “We were thinking, ‘What is going to happen? What can we do to make it better?’ We’ve just been on that road of being positive and ‘let’s make it better.’”
Avery holds a sign depicting a gold ribbon for childhood cancer awareness.
Avery’s doctors have been trying to ‘make it all better,’ but they don’t have all the answers, especially about the type of childhood cancer she has.
“If there were more funds going towards childhood cancer research, then they could open up more clinical trials and do more studies and get those answers that could cure her,” Cathy said.
That’s why St. Baldrick’s is important to Cathy and her husband.
“St. Baldrick’s is hope for us,” she said.
Avery just started her seventh cycle of chemotherapy, which she’s handling well so far, and came out of her third surgery the Monday after Halloween. (Thankfully, she was able to enjoy Halloween — she trick or treated her heart out as a pint-sized giraffe. Avery’s a big fan of zoo animals.)
Avery mugs for the camera with her mom on Halloween. “It was our vacation because she just got to go out, have fun, be a normal kid, celebrate Halloween and do all that for a little while,” Cathy said.
Soon, after a couple more cycles, Avery will go in for scans to see if the treatment is working. For now, the daily routine is chemotherapy at the clinic and one of two movies — Finding Nemo or Frozen.
“Oh my gosh, we have watched Finding Nemo a thousand times,” Cathy said.
Sometimes it’s a bit of both Finding Nemo and Frozen, but no matter how many times she’s seen those movies, Avery gets a big kick out of them. In fact, she gets a kick out of just about everything.
Avery even gets excited when they pull up to the hospital, where she’s sure to get poked by needles, Cathy said.
“She’s so happy and she’s so positive, and that’s really what keeps us going too.”
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