Tessa surprised our family when she came rockin' an extra chromosome. She spent 11 days in the NICU and left with oxygen but seemed in good health otherwise. When Tessa turned 18 months old, she became very sick.
I went to a simple doctor's appointment on October 27, and from that day on, my life flipped upside down. I was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) in October of 2021 right before Halloween. I planned to take a gap year after my high school graduation that year, but now I didn’t have a choice. At the beginning of treatment, everything was going well.
My daughter Aryanna was diagnosed with stage 2 non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) when she was two years old. Her treatment lasted three months, and she is a survivor of five years. As a young mom, I had no idea that this could happen to us. It all started with random nights of vomiting and fever.
In the fall of 2019, life was very active for me
My grandson, Dominick, was diagnosed with high risk pre b cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) in November 2014. He was 2 3/4 years old and it was only 8 months after his dad unexpectedly passed away. Obviously this was a new shock for his mom, Danielle and his family.
In May 2019, when Carter was just two years old. While attending his cousin’s graduation in New York City, I knew something was not right because he was not feeling well. We rushed him to New York Presbyterian Hospital where he received several blood and platelet transfusions.
