Helping sweet Maizy Beat Cancer while at St Jude

Hello all! My name is Sarah and my youngest sister Stefanie is Maizy’s mom. Here is Maizy’s story:

Maizy began having enlarged lymph nodes around her neck last week. After 3 visits to the pediatrician over the course of last Friday to Tuesday, she was sent to the ER for imaging.

Maizy has enlarged lymph nodes around her neck, upper chest around the thymus, as well as under her arms from the head and neck CT that was done. Unsure at this time if any more are enlarged. Due to this, she were admitted to PICU in Huntsville, and then transferred to St Jude’s in Memphis to find out what is going on as this is the best place for Maizy to be.

The doctors have confirmed through blood work that she does have cancer. We are still unsure at this time if it is lymphoma or leukemia. They said regardless treatment will be the same.

The plan for today is that she will undergo anesthesia to have a PET scan, port placed for chemo, lumbar puncture and chemo injected to protect her brain, bone marrow aspiration, lymph node biopsy, and a skin biopsy.

She is a high risk intubation due to the pressure being put on the pulmonary arteries and airway. That is very scary.

Maizy, her mother, her father, and her baby sister Piper will be 4 hours away from home in Tennessee for at least the next 6 WEEKS while starting chemo, having other testing done, and appointments from what we have been told.

It is a lot for a sweet little girl to go through. She is only 2. We are devastated to say the least. I don’t know how our family has any tears left. I never imagined 3 days ago would lead us here. She shouldn’t be going through this and we don’t want her to be in pain. It has been a gut wrenching 3 days.

We are looking forward to the better days when she kicks cancers butt……But in the meantime, her parents are still trying to figure out how to navigate through the beginning of the hard days.

The raw truth is— my sister and her husband need to be with their daughter during this very scary time. Every day will be critical and Maizy is high risk for deterioration. Therefore, her parents will not be able to work through the rest of 2023 year and possibly into next year in order to provide the time needed to be with Maizy, decision making, never ending days at St. Jude. All while also caring for their other baby girl, Piper, too, who is less than 1 year old.

Maizy will be undergoing chemo immediately starting today. She will be going through procedures most of us could never imagine or couldn’t handle including weekly spinal taps for chemo… Maizy is such a strong sweet little girl. But she needs her Mom and Dad there.

Please help me to spread the word to all who feel compelled to help ease the financial burden my sister and her family will ensue. Any amount is appreciated, big or small. This will help for many many things including housing, meals, transport while several hours away. It will help with bills while the household is out of work for the next 6 weeks in order for their focus to remain on sweet Maizy. Not to mention what comes next after the scariest parts are done. Maizy will need physical therapy etc to regain her strength after she fights this big fight! (And we know she can do it!!) The bills add up tremendously and they need our help, friends and family.

Lift this family up in your prayers, as this is one of the hardest moments in a parents life… when your child is suffering. Thank you all for reading this far.

God Bless. We will update as we can.

If you have questions please feel free to reach out to me,

Sarah <3