On September 15th, 9-year-old Elliette was the beneficiary of a grant from HEADstrong and the Charlotte Grace Fund Golf Outing. At the event, her mom, Laney, shared their families story with everyone and now with the HEADstrong community.
From the time she could walk, Elliette has been a dancing queen. At first, she didn't seem destined for the stage with her more "free-form" style of dance. But soon, we witnessed our girl stumble and then gracefully fall into her passion. She became a competitive dancer and LOVED it.
So when she started acting tired and grouchy...when she started coughing and getting inexplicably sick and simply didn't have the energy to enjoy dance like she had for so many years, we knew something was up. We went from a pediatrician visit to bloodwork to a terrifying 2am phone call with lightning speed. We were transferred to CHOP and finally, we had a diagnosis. But when that diagnosis was delivered our world turned upside down as we heard the words no parent should ever hear - "it's cancer."
The week that followed diagnosis was a nightmare, full of transfusions and surgery and vomiting and IV lines and a spinal tap and a bone marrow biopsy and chemotherapies. Seeing your child pale, helpless and hooked up to IVs in both arms while being starved to prep for surgery and then going through that battery of procedures is like getting hit by a Mac truck, standing up just in time to be run over by a train, and before you can take a breath its like being thrown overboard into a sea of uncertainty.
To say we were lost is an understatement. To go through all of this as a parent while trying to bravely and calmly guide our 9yo through all of these same traumas is impossible. Yet, we and she didn't have a choice, so we just keep moving through the daily horror and the whole experience seemed endless and terrifying.
Everything following diagnosis was (and still is) overwhelming. The realities of treatment and our new life began to sink in. We were hit with the time lines for treatment (two and a half years for Leukemia patients and that's without any complications). Next up was signing off on those possible complications and possible side effects that are long term issues and are sometimes equally as scary as the cancer. The barage of questions we had were endless. Can our kid go to school? Will she resume normal activities? What will this summer of active treatment look like? How on earth will we manage this new and alarmingly frequent treatment schedule while figuring out childcare for our well child? Will we go bankrupt? How are we supposed to pay the surely massively high medical bills that are about come in?
Your donations to the HEADstrong Foundation don't just drop into a nameless cancer fund. Your gift gives parents who've been through the ringer some peace of mind. You gift siblings time to be with their sick family members doing something special and "normal" when so many of those experiences have been robbed from them. You give sick children the ability to chase their perhaps now modified dreams so their childhood isn't completely robbed from them. You can give sanity and hope to families who are stretched on having much of either.
On behalf of myself, my family, and the countless others that this beautiful organization has awarded a grant to...THANK YOU.
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