Sadie was a normal little girl who loved cooking, putting on makeup, playing soccer, drawing and playing with her friends. On February 25, 2015 our lives changed. Sadie had been to her pediatrician the last few months with a few common illnesses. She got the flu, then strep throat, then some little tiny dots on her legs and stomach. With each illness she ran a low grade fever of 99.7 and was extremely lethargic. She had been pale for the last month, but it was winter. After a long weekend, her grandparents noticed that Sadie was exceptionally pale, and her Aunt recommended that we take her in for blood work to test for Anemia. The next Monday, in the midst of an ice storm, I called her pediatrician and told her about how pale Sadie was. She called into the lab for us to do blood work and we made a follow up appointment for Thursday. Tuesday afternoon, I took Sadie to get her blood drawn, and on Wednesday morning by 8:30 am, our lives had changed forever. We got a call from our pediatrician to pick Sadie up from school and bring her to the office. She said that she had gotten Sadie's blood work back and something was wrong. She told us she'd be sending us to Children's Medical in Dallas after we met with her.
I could barely breathe when I walked into the school to get Sadie. I had no idea what it could be, but I knew it wasn't good. I tried so hard to hold back my tears on our way to the pediatricians office. My husband, Shawn, met us there and we walked in together. I'll never forget walking into the office and seeing the way the receptionist and nurse looked at us. It was in complete sympathy, and I knew this was bad.
They took us right back, and our pediatrician came in with results in hand. Sadie sat on my lap as the doctor said, "We got Sadie's blood results back and they show that Sadie has Acute Leukemia." ...What?! I immediately started crying and Sadie did, too, even though we had no idea what this meant. Sadie whispered in my ear, "Mama, am I going to die?"
Oh my goodness....
At that moment I was SO scared. I hugged her as tight as I could and told her it was all going to be okay. The doctor gave us the directions of where to go next and the name of the Oncologist (Dr. Slone) we'd be meeting with.
We went home and packed for several nights stays. We picked up Sadie's ten year old brother and headed to Dallas. The car was silent the whole way there. As we walked into the hospital, we were paralyzed with fear and worry. The minute we checked in, they buzzed us back. They took Sadie's vitals and more blood, and then escorted us to a room where we waited for Tamra Slone, our oncologist. She since has become like family. We love her!
When she entered, she brought another woman named Caitlin who has become very special to Sadie and us. Caitlin is the child life specialist at the clinic. Dr. Slone confirmed that Sadie did have ALL. We were clueless, so she explained what it meant and what would happen. One of the first things she explained was that this was NOT caused by anything we did, anything Sadie ate or was exposed to, and in no way was this our fault. She explained that the next day Sadie would have her port placement to receive chemotherapy and they'd be starting chemo treatments orally that same night. Later that night, Dr. Slone came to our room with a second confirmation: Sadie had ALL, Pre-B. We would learn what risk level she was in on day 29 of treatment. which is the end of the first phase, called Induction...
The first week was rough. We were in total shock. Sadie had so many side effects including a reaction to the platelets that were given to her, lots of pain in her legs and jaw, and very high blood pressure which resulted in migraines. It was awful.
Sadie was released after 6 days in the hospital. Shawn and I were so scared to go home. It felt like we were taking home a newborn baby for the first time. Sadie however, was so happy to be home. We had our first out patient treatment at clinic 2 days later. Her appointment was good although this was the first time Sadie had her port accessed and although she was so scared, she did great. Her treatment went good for her first time.
Later that night when Sadie was getting ready for the bath, she started looking in the mirror and had her one shoulder (port side) raised toward her ear. She started to panic and said "I can't put my arm down"... We tried several different things to try to get her shoulder down and it wouldn't go. We thought it could have been caused from having her port accessed for the first time, but of course weren't sure. We called the clinic and they told us to watch it.
The next day, Sadie was having some aches and pains from her treatment so I gave her some pain medicine. I took her temperature before to double check for no fever since the pain meds could mask a fever, and it was 99.6, which was higher than her normal, although not considered a fever in oncology world.
Later that morning, I got a call from Dr. Slone that morning saying that she had gotten back the first test that would determine what risk level Sadie is in. It was good news that Sadie's cells split the "good" way and this test prevented her from being Very High Risk. This conversation was so early on in the journey and I still had no idea what was going on, so this one is the only test I am not sure of. I told Dr. Slone that Sadie had a higher temp then normal and she told me to watch it closely and call if it got above 100.5.
Not 30 minutes later, Sadie's temperature raised to over 100.5 and we were packing our bags to go back in. Sadie was admitted that day and we would be staying for the rest of induction. After many tests, they found out that Sadie had ecoli bacteria. It was in her blood stream and seemed to be in her shoulder and arm, close to her port. After a few days, many tests, MRI's, doctors in and out, and visits with the infectious disease team, the infection had moved to her port. They treated and treated with antibiotics, but the decision was made to pull the port. She went into surgery to have her 12 day old port removed and then the next day, went back into surgery to receive her picc line. Pretty traumatic for my sweet 7 year old baby girl, who only 2 weeks earlier was walking along the River Walk in San Antonio, with no worries.
Because Sadie was on such strong chemo treatments, including steroids, her wound from her old port, was going to take many many weeks to heal and close. They couldn't close it since the infection was still there, so it was literally a hole in her chest for over 8 weeks. Each week, they would replace the gauze and repack it. Sadie was terrified of this. It hurt so bad and there was no way to numb it or prevent the pain. I hated this for her.
We went home a little over 3 weeks later. For the next 8 weeks we were at clinic twice a week. One day for chemo treatment and the other day to have her picc line dressing replaced and her wound packed and dressing changed.
Sadie reached the goal of getting into remission by day 29. This officially diagnosed her with Standard risk B-Cell ALL. Her treatment plan will last 2 1/2 years.
Since all of this Sadie has been one tough cookie! She has endured so much more than any child should ever have to go through. She has fought and she has gotten through every obstacle thrown her way. She is currently in the toughest phase of treatment, called Delayed Intensification. We take everyday one by one and do our very best. Shawn and I are so proud of Sadie and her positive outlook and smiles for days. She has inspired so many people through the youtube videos she makes, sharing what its like for a child with cancer, and her strength and courage. She is our hero!
No child should have to go through what these children go through. We never thought this could happen to one of our children and it did.
Over 15,000 children are diagnosed with cancer and over 40,000 are in treatment, each year. All of this, and childhood cancer research only gets 4% of funding. This is NOT enough and we have to help. Please donate in Sadie's name and help us find better treatments, that are less invasive for their little bodies. Help us find a cure! We need to get to 100% survival rate and with your help, we can.
Thank you!!
