Scarlett is a toddler with acute lymphocytic leukemia. She was diagnosed in May of 2018 and has been undergoing treatment. She is now in maintenance with her treatment. She has three siblings and two loving parents who have been with her every step of her journey.
On April 12th, 2018, Scarlett’s family was flown to UC Davis in the middle of the night. They thought she may have gotten influenza since their youngest daughter was diagnosed with it a few days prior. Only Scarlett was diagnosed on the 5th of April with a ear infection, but well after 7 days of antibiotics she didn’t stop having a fever.
They took her to the emergency room, and the doctors immediately did a flu swab and decided to fly us to UC Davis (flu swab was negative). So UC Davis children’s 7 floor did many tests, and since they couldn’t find anything, they basically pumped her full of antibiotics and sent the family home.
Exactly a month later, on May 12, Scarlett was flown back down to UC Davis. At that point she was able to do a bone marrow biopsy but had to wait until her fever was gone. The doctors only do surgeries on Tuesdays and Fridays, and since it was a Saturday, they sent the family home again! Sunday marked 48 hours of no fever for Scarlett. The next Tuesday the family went down for bone marrow biopsy and then back home to wait on the results.
The next day was Wednesday, May 16th, and the doctos called and said the family needed to get back to UC Davis. They had confirmed that Scarlett had leukemia. Scarlett’s mother wrote,
“At that moment I thought, does this mean I have a certain amount of time to say goodbye to my baby girl who was only barely two years of age? No, it doesn’t mean that. But it has been a wild roller coaster of emotions. Last September she had to have a catheter inserted in her vagina, and I felt like I was holding her down while someone else raped her!!! It’s definitely the worst part of this whole thing. Watching your daughter’s privacy be invaded like that. Ugh. I felt like a terrible mom, even though it wasn’t optional. Anyways she’s in maintenance now and doing fabulous and always smiling. She’s a joy to be around 90% of the time. And we are excited about being done with her treatment next July.”
Hearts of Hope Network is here to help Scarlett’s family. Because of generous donations and support, we have sent Tony’s Hugs packages to each member of this family and are here to help throughout their journey.
Here at Hearts of Hope Network, every case is different and unique in its own way. We want to always be here to stand with these families in their time of need and beyond. Every donation goes toward supporting these families, and every donor is a part of showing these families that they are NOT alone.
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Praying for the family. I remember when my son was in treatment for leukemia, I would wake myself up screaming because I was dreaming of his being tied down and stabbed over and over again by doctors in white coats and long, sharp needles. As mother nothing makes you feel more helpless than watching, no not just watching but actually participating, in inflicting pain on your child. You know it’s saving their life but every instinct in you wants to shield them. This is why we do what we do. Please, help us support these families. They suffer silently but they experience PTSD as surely as any soldier on the battlefield.
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