Hi! I am Jillian, mother of two incredible kiddos. On November 8th, our lives were changed by 4 simple words… “it’s looking like Leukemia…” That sentence was spoken by an incredible doctor at James and Connie Maynard Children’s Hospital to my 13-year-old daughter, Ella.

The morning started with what we thought would be a quick doctor's appointment that I had scheduled the day before due to a persistent swollen lymph node in Ella’s jaw. After a quick exam and lab work, her doctor came in quite somber and broke the news that Ella’s lab work looked off and we would need to head to the Children’s ER for additional testing. Upon arriving at the ER, we met with a fantastic team that immediately began running tests. They were pretty convinced that it was just an infection, going as far as telling us they were confident we would be going home that night... but, that was not the end result. At 7 PM on November 8th, our incredible doctor walked in, and let us know that we were being admitted and she was very sorry, but "it's looking like Leukemia."

Time stood still, but zoomed into overdrive at the exact same time. There was a whirlwind of doctors, nurses, tests, and results over the next few days. Good news, Bad News, and everything in between. Lumbar puncture, bone marrow biopsy, PICC line placement, and two rounds of chemo happened over the next few days, aside from twice daily blood work and too many vital checks to count.

We were finally released from the hospital on November 14th. We are home and settling in to our new normal, or lack of normal it feels like right now.

At this point, we don't know what we don't know as far as what this diagnosis with bring. Cost of meds, appointments, travel, food expenses, time from work. It will all add up I am sure. We are just putting this out there. Our doctor told us best. Don't be prideful, take help where it is offered. We will take whatever help we can get. If its monetary or positive thoughts and prayers, anything and everything will help.

Thank you for reading through this, please keep us in your thoughts and prayers. Together - we are figuring it out, one day, one prayer, and one smile at a time.