Juniper's Fight

On behalf of Redbud Run and our community as a whole, friends and colleagues are facilitating a fundraiser to help one of our special education teachers and Teacher of the Year, Hayes Smith, and his daughter Juniper. Hayes and his wife Megan have been watching their daughter fight a persistently growing mass on her neck for months now. Juniper is a playful, humorous, and loving toddler who enjoys all things outdoors and animals. Her favorite activities include watching the birds from the window, dancing with scarves to music, water playing, watching trees blow in the wind, and following around her three-year-old brother. Please read below a detailed description of the fight that Juniper has endured and the long road ahead for her and her family. Mom, Megan, a teacher in Loudon will need to stay home from work indefinitely to care for Juniper. This will bring another financial burden on top of the already existing and future medical bills. Please consider donating to this wonderful family to help them during a time when the support of their community is essential. Keep fighting and stay strong and resilient, sweet Juniper!!

From Hayes and Megan, "On December 17th, Juniper woke up with a large mass on the right side of her neck. She was diagnosed with lymphadenitis and began oral rounds of antibiotics in an attempt to clear the infection. Unfortunately, there was minimal response to those antibiotics and her mass continued to grow. She was admitted to her local hospital and began more potent IV antibiotics for 10 days with the hope that the least invasive approach would work. Although some of the inflammation lessened, Juniper was sent home with no plan other than weekly follow-ups with an ENT. The practice shared that a pediatric ENT was not necessary at the time. For almost three weeks, the local medical team continued to watch her mass grow to say they could not determine a specific cause. At this time, Megan and Hayes began seeking specialty care and continued to advocate for referrals for a lead pediatric ENT. After finally receiving a referral, Juniper had an appointment with the Chief ENT at Children’s National on February 8th who admitted her immediately with concerns that the mass was cancerous. Juniper underwent an incisional biopsy to rule out lymphoma. At this time, Juniper had lost 3 lbs and was very fatigued. For two and a half weeks, the family anxiously awaited the results of the biopsy. Fortunately, Juniper met with oncology who confirmed that the mass was benign. A week later, the Chief ENT was able to share with Megan and Hayes that Juniper’s neck mass was a result of an advanced lymphatic infection caused by Atypical Mycobacteria (an uncommon bacteria that grows in the environment and can be found anywhere). It was described as a case of “very bad luck”. The correct, targeted antibiotic therapy began immediately with guidance from an Infectious Disease specialist. For over a week, the largest infected lymph node continued to grow, turn a deep red, purple color, and ultimately ruptured through the skin, needing immediate intervention. Megan and Hayes drove Juniper to Children’s National where she underwent her first IND and curettage surgery to try to scoop out the infected node. The surgery resulted in a nickel size open wound needing packed gauze care daily. Juniper will need in-home nursing care and potentially further curettage surgeries at the site to fully remove the infected tissue. There are also other infected nodes in the back of her neck which will need surgical intervention unless the antibiotic therapies can puncture the site and cure the infection. These types of bacterial infections are some of the most difficult to treat, and the Infectious Disease and ENT teams have both shared with Juniper’s family that this will be a long, persistent road of treatment for months to come. After healing, Juniper will need cosmetic skin graphing procedures due to the size and depth of the surgeries. Megan will need to stay home from work for Juniper’s care until this infection is cured."