Pages

On June 1, 2010 our two year old, "Little Air Bear," was diagnosed with Childhood Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML) Type M7. After enduring 146 days at Primary Children's Hospital, Erin is now in remission and living a full life at home with our family. Her strong will and constant happy smile is an inspiration to us all. Through our difficult circumstances we found great strength and peace in our Savior, Jesus Christ. Thank you for checking in on us.

Monday, September 13, 2010

Childhood Cancer Awareness

Maybe it's because cancer scares me that I haven't really looked too deeply into it or gotten involved in any groups.  It has taken me 3 months to finally feel like I can get out and meet others who have Leukemia.  Sometimes it is just less heart wrenching to keep everything as if nothing ever happened.  But, I have finally given in and made friends who also have children who have cancer. 

My friend Chelsea has a beautiful 5 year old daughter who has Leukemia (ALL - Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia) and she has been active in learning about cancer.  I admire her courage to step up and get involved.  She has been a good example to me.  She shared this video on her blog and it just touched me so deeply that I wanted to share it with you.



September is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month! 
You can learn more at Cure Search.

I don't know if I've ever talked about how we are part of a clinical study through Primary Children's Medical Center and other participating Children Oncology Groups.  The day Erin was diagnosed we were given a briefing and a big stack of papers about a clinical study on using a new chemotherapy drug to fight Acute Myeloid Leukemia.  John read meticuoulsly through the study (highlighting his questions) and I browsed over most of it looking for things that I understood. 

To participate, we signed some paperwork, but those who received the new chemotherapy drug were chosen through a lottery.  We both felt strongly that we should participate in the study, but neither of us wanted to try out the new drug on our daughter.  We prayed a lot about it.  We decided it was right to participate in the study.  A few hours after signing the papers we were informed that Erin was not chosen to receive the new chemotherapy drug.  We are thankful that Erin is part of a study to help other's fight Acute Myeloid Leukemia.  We are thankful that there are people out there who are helping us fight cancer.

6 comments:

  1. I hope you are all able to view this video. If you are having trouble viewing it, you can get it at this link to youtube

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AGS4yE5v9rM

    ReplyDelete
  2. Jill, My mom just told me about your little Erin and what she is going through. My heart goes out to you guys. I will remember your family in my prayers. Your kids are darling and I can't imagine what you have been through. You are an inspiration! Melissa (Lindsey) Marchant

    ReplyDelete
  3. Wow, I never should have watched that at work. Thanks for sharing.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Melissa, I thought I'd lost track of you. I am so glad that we are connected again! Thank you for your prayers!

    Lisa Marie, yes, this is a tear jerker!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Our family gearing up to do a balloon release with other families in the Cache Valley area in two weeks. This will be a first big, visual reminder to us on our loss of Allisyn. It takes a while to feel like you can put yourself out there - your raw emotions - to reach out to others who are also experiencing what you are going through. Our prayers are with you every day. We have found out so much about CDH that we are going to start a nonprofit to continue the research and honor our daughter. Give me hugs or tears next door any time you need to.

    ReplyDelete