Exactly 7 years in the making

7 year ago this week, we began this road with Charlotte. These pictures were the last ones taken before we learned what she was fighting. We drove to Duke Children’s Hospital on orders from our pediatrician after a month of weekly visits. Soon the doctors would tell us it was an aggressive cancer, Neuroblastoma, and we would learn it had already metastasized to her bones and bone marrow. Treatment plans, survival statistics, surgical procedures, side effect paperwork, social worker and child life visits to assess our needs with our other children and our finances, a flurry of activity, little sleep, and a completely blurry time of fear in my memory. And she suffered. We watched her suffer and would watch her suffer more over the course of that year and a half, and then again when her cancer returned. And we watched other families suffer and struggle. We watched the strength of these families and these kids like Charlotte who often tried to smile and find some playful joy. We watched some of our little friends never make it back home. We watched helplessly for what felt like a long time. But we said that one day, with God’s grace and mercy and help, we would get through this as a family of 5 and that we WOULD find a way to help other families. 

The pediatric cancer that came out of nowhere, led us somewhere. It led us right here. And after all the storms and rainbows, one emotion that overwhelms them all is a gratitude beyond measure to God for carrying us and helping us walk when we couldn’t see or understand a thing. He gave us a strength and a peace we could carry inside that surpassed all of our own understandings. He gave us a village of family and friends that supported us and helped build a community of faith. We are forever changed. Life forever altered. But our gratitude deepens our joy and we get the opportunity to help others going through this. We get to help be a rainbow for them through Be The Rainbow Foundation’s mission. We get to share Charlotte’s journey in whatever way we are led with the hopes that her suffering and her story positively impacts someone else’s life somehow. We get to share hope and our gifts. At the end of the day, we are still here, all 5 of us, together.

This is what we fought so hard for and what we will keep fighting for.

Charlotte has scans and some other long term care appointments at Duke Children’s next Thursday and Friday. We sure appreciate all of your prayers. We thank God for where we are today and know it’s not always our timing but after 7 years in the making, right here and right now is part of the moments we’ve prayed for. And that’s pretty darn special