Paislee’s Journey

Life is full of the unexpected. I’m sure many of you have heard the heartbreaking news about Paislee. Please consider donating to their needs. They will be staying in Savannah for weeks at a time. They will need help with gas, food, medical bills and other unexpected expenses. If you can’t financially contribute, prayers are appreciated as well. Below is her story, written by her Julie (also her biggest fan!)

 

 

You never know how much of a blessing it is to have healthy children until you don't.........

 

These last few weeks have been a roller coaster ride, to say the least, but it has led us to where we are now. Most of you know but I really need as many people praying as we can get so we can get our baby back to where she needs to be and with God's help I know she will get there.

I am seriously at a loss for words and I have so many questions as to why and how this can happen to a child, and how this can happen to our Sweet P. We woke up to a happy, getting into everything little girl every day and suddenly it just stopped. She was weak, she wouldn't eat, she wouldn't smile and she completely stopped moving around. Our happy baby wasn't anymore. She wasn't happy unless she was laying on me. I couldn't touch her but she had to be laying on me or she wasn't gonna be happy. Then she stopped even caring if she moved at all. I knew something was wrong but I thought it was another infection. It started as an ear infection that took two different antibiotics to get rid of. She was Paislee for about a week then she wasn't again. We thought it was her teeth as she has a time cutting teeth and she was trying to cut 3 at once with 2 of those being jaw teeth. Went to a pediatric dentist which said she was fine. (was not impressed with him at all). If you could have seen her mouth you would understand. All of this took place within 3-4 weeks' time. All of this to lead up to this week.

 

We went back to her pediatrician Wednesday after she got worse and I noticed bruises that shouldnt be there and her little eyes were protruding. Thank God for Etta Boss-Cole because she sent us directly to Savannah Children's Hospital. We were a direct admit. They brought her directly in and took labs. That's where things got crazy. It went from calm to crazy in a matter of seconds.

Her white blood cell count was through the roof, she was anemic and her liver and spleen is enlarged. We still had not talked to a dr at this point then it happened....

 

June 15th will forever be a day that is seared into my memory. The Drs came in and knocked the wind out of me, out of our family. Our world was forever changed. CANCER!!! My heart dropped. A million questions and emotions poured through me as I tried to get a mental handle on the situation. I’m still trying. I’m still in shock. I still don’t know what to do or what to think. Our baby has cancer. Doctors knew it was leukemia, however, more tests were needed to determine which kind. Everything moved so fast. We were moved out of a regular room into PICU where they put in a central line. From there she started receiving fluids, antibiotics, blood, platelets, and so much more that I can't remember all within an hour of arriving.

On the 16th she went in for a Bone Marrow biopsy and we waited patiently (not really) for the results all day. Less than 2 hours ago the dr came in and confirmed our worst fears. She has B-ALL or B-Cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia. This is a very treatable type of Leukemia so that is something we can be happy about. She will have a spinal tap tomorrow to see if it's in her spinal fluid to determine exactly what the treatments will be but she will begin them tomorrow. She will be here for at least 3 more weeks. If she responds well to the treatment then she can then go to outpatient treatments where we can come back and forth. Please pray that she responds well to her treatments and that they will not find anything in her spinal fluid tomorrow.

 

I still don’t feel like I have a grasp on everything that is happening, and I don’t know what the short-term and long-term looks like for Paislee, our family, or myself. But I do know that the most important thing that I can ask from any of you is to send Prayers to our Ultimate Healer and ask him to make it all okay, whatever that may look like. Prayer works, prayer is real, and prayer will help me and my family get through this. Please pray for our baby Sweet P. ❤️ Speak specifically to her white blood cells, her blood, her bones, her liver, and her spleen. Speak life over her precious little body. Speak healing. For the Love of God and everything in me, SPEAK STRENGTH AND HEALING for Paislee Ann Marie Smith.