Charlotte's Journey

The timing of Charlotte’s fever yesterday was a God send. We got to pediatric sedation to begin prepping for 2 of her 3 scans early yesterday morning. She had been feeling just fine and no fever, although the night before her scans Brian and I were concerned she had contracted a virus because the palms of her hands, soles of her feet and mouth had little blisters. The top of her lip and the inside of her mouth had sores and blisters. We went in for the appointment and let them know it looks like she had an infection that appeared like this childhood virus called Hand Foot and Mouth disease. The doctors were evaluating whether we would be able to proceed as planned when vitals revealed a low grade fever. They monitored her and checked again about 15 minutes later and it was higher. Duke decided to postpone into next week.  If her fever would have begun an hour or more later, which causes elevated heart rates and potentially blood pressure issues, it may not have been as safe to sedate h

We want to share every single precious detail with you all but, 😅 phew, life needs to slow down for a cotton pickin’ moment so I can write about it! Charlotte’s wish trip, starting with her Make A Wish delivery party, all the way through her wish week at Give Kids the World Resort and Disney...if you can close your eyes and picture a time where the world stood still and the ones you cherish the most are right there experiencing their happy little hearts desires, well then you would feel what it felt like on Charlottes wish trip. We cannot thank Eatern NC Make A Wish and Something MAAGIC Foundation and Give Kids the World enough for all they have done to give Charlotte and our family this precious time. She felt so cherished as did we all. I promise I WILL make the time to share this with you all as well as some of the pictures and details.. But for now, we are home from her very special wish trip and preparing for her scans and clinic this week. She will have scans (CT, MIBG, and MR

Look who is a caterpillar y’all! (Pictures still won’t load😑, will update later) We just love the symbolism here. Charlotte had her first day of preschool today! This year, she will be in the 4s caterpillar class MWF (half days). She is taking a Wednesday afternoon dance class: Ballet/Tap/Tumble. She is playing 4 year old soccer on Saturdays. She is in Preschool. She is doing all that her little heart desires. Just look at her. I’ll keep this update short and sweet just like her (although look at the before and after picture and you can see her so much bigger in a year!) Keep those prayers coming y’all! God is so Good! Soccer! Dukes PBMT Durham Bulls Outpatient Event with pops and Mimi First day of Preschool! Our caterpillar  3s class last year vs 4s class this year

(Pictures won’t load, will update later) No one can imagine finding out your child has cancer. Then understanding its Stage IV with wide spread metastasis and that they have a 50/50 chance at beating it.  A coin toss.  So then you go through the harsh treatment and you watch your child battle what you would shoulder for them in a heartbeat. And then they do it. They make it and survive the treatment and reach the end of treatment. Their scans are clear! Your heart sings it’s praise YES!!! And you want so badly to feel this glory but you can’t feel it in its entirety because here we are again looking at a coin toss. You see, after treatment is over kids have about a 50/50 chance of relapse. Your child just went through all that treatment and now it’s a coin toss whether or not their cancer will return?! 6 rounds of chemo, surgery, 2 bone marrow/stem cell transplants, radiation, and Immunotherapy...18months of fighting and beating this disease back and yet they are NOT cured.