I'm shaving my head to raise money for childhood cancer research! Did you know that kids' cancers are different from adult cancers? It's true. And childhood cancer research is extremely underfunded. So I decided to do something about it by raising money for cures. I would like to share with you a little something about 2 very special girls I am shaving for, Lexi and Abby who are honorary team members of the Emmaus Girls Basketball Team. Scroll down to the end to see pictures of these 2 amazing, courageous girls. Here are the words of their parents:
Lexi is 7 years old and is currently in first grade. She loves dance class, science, being outdoors, being with her friends and all the friends she’s made through Angel 34 and other charities we have worked with., Lexi was originally diagnosed with ALL on Feb 9 2015. She completed her initial 2+ years of treatment on May 18, 2017. Just before thanksgiving of 2017 she had some blood work and on December 7 2017 it was confirmed that she had relapsed, this time with Ph+ ALL. On May 2, 2018 she received a stem cell transplant from her sister Annie. She is currently attending school via video conferencing, and is looking forward to returning to the classroom this spring.
It was 12-Sep-2018 that changed our lives forever!!! We got a call from our doctor around 04:30PM and her exact words were “we have diagnosed the cause behind Abhisha’s re-occurring fever episodes since 6 months and its - Leukemia”. It was a hard punch in the gut feeling and shook our world.
Abby(Abhisha) was battling fever of unknown origin with no other symptoms for past some months and have undergone numerous amount of blood tests that one can name…but all came back normal with no serious signs of anything. Finally, it came down to Bone Marrow Biopsy to rule out things as all the doctors were thinking of something on line of Periodic Fever or Rheumatoid Arthritis …but the result came out as positive for Acute Lymphoblast Leukemia (ALL) this time…still wish if that can be reverted somehow.
We were immediately asked to get admitted to LVHN Children’s Hospital on that day itself and the treatment started from next morning (13-Sep). It was heart wrenching to see her admitted to hospital instead of riding that Kindergarten school bus for the 1st time and sitting in her class with her new friends. In a moment the long awaited and fun-filled expected kindergarten experience was replaced with things like surgery, pokes, port, Spinal Tap, Chemo and so on. Somebody said it correctly-“Life is like a box of chocolate, you never know what you’re gonna get”.
It is now Feb’19 and we have lost the track of countless pokes, blood tests, clinic visits, chemo and physical therapy that she has undergone and still numerous amount of sessions yet to come where we have to see the “life-saving” poison run through our daughters body with just one hope...see her 100% cured and free from this life threatening disease forever!!! It breaks our heart to see her change in every physical and emotional way that one can possibly think off...be it eating, sleeping, walking, smiling, talking, breathing but she has fought it all hard and have always comforted and lighten-up our lives with her innocence and exuberance, just like her name “Abhisha-Comforting soul”
It’s still a long road ahead and we just believe in Almighty and power of prayers that she will grow out of it healthier and stronger!!!
No kid deserve this and we wish that one day there will be more better treatment options available. We can proudly say that we have seen superheroes, they reside in the hearts of small children fighting big battles for life!!!
Now I need your help! Will you make a donation? Every dollar makes a difference for the thousands of infants, children, teens, and young adults fighting childhood cancers.
