Strong, powerful, positive Addie!

Hi, we are Sam and Kelsey, Al's best friends. Sam since pre school and Kelsey since college! We are setting up a fund to support Alison and Ryan, their beautiful three year old daughter Addie was just diagnosed with cancer the week of Thanksgiving. The funds will support things like Addie's favorite meals, gifts for Addie like books and crafts to keep her busy, hotel stays near Stanford, anything to infuse joy into her life right now.

Just a few weeks ago Addie was camping with her buddies in Big Sur and now she's in a hospital bed at Stanford's Lucile Packard Children's Hospital undergoing chemotherapy for T-Cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (T-All). Addie had a chest cough for a while, but just your typical toddler jumping from cold to cold and cough to cough. No fevers, no red flags. Happily living her best life in preschool. Addie developed conjunctivitis, so Alison took her in and the doctor confirmed double eye and ear infections but was exceedingly alarmed by the size of Addie's lymph nodes so the doctor asked Alison if she wanted to do a precautionary X Ray of Addie's chest and they discovered a mass, so they asked for bloodwork. The bloodwork came back with some abnormalities but they wanted it to be seen under a microscope and Addie was prescribed antibiotics for the ear and eye infections and hopefully her lymph nodes would shrink as those kicked in. Addie spent the weekend playing and camping with friends visiting from Seattle, but by Monday morning, the week of Thanksgiving, she was declining. Alison and Ryan took her in for a follow up with their doctor and the bloodwork results showed "blasts" in her blood and the doctor needed to call Stanford to discuss. She said they would want to have Addie worked up but didn't know when. She sent them home, they put Addie to bed, and they were called that evening and told the needed to go to Stanford immediately. Addie endured CT Scans, X-Rays, and bloodwork overnight at Stanford ER and it was confirmed Addie had blood cancer, they just weren't sure what type. 12 hours later they were admitted, and after more X-rays, bone marrow samples, spinal taps, and bloodwork it was revealed Addie has T-Cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (T-All).

Addie is currently undergoing an aggressive chemotherapy plan and the next six months will certainly be the most critical and fragile months.

Al and Ryan are the kind of friends who always show up. Their hearts are enormous, their love unconditional. Let's wrap them in love and support them from afar while they quarantine with their precious baby girl. Also, Alison encourages you to donate blood if you can at your local blood bank as Addie is undergoing blood transfusions.

In the words of Alison, "Our new journey begins. We are scared. So scared. And hopeful. So hopeful."