Help Wesley and Her Family as They Battle Cancer

I’d like to introduce you to Wesley (affectionately known as Princess W to this grandma). Wesley is five years old. Her mom is Emily, and her dad is Jeff (my son). She has a 15-month-old baby brother Wyatt.

For every one of her five years, she has been fighting a battle for her life. But no one knew of the battle raging inside her until shortly after her third birthday when she was diagnosed with a Wilm’s tumor during a middle of the night trip to the emergency room at Mott’s Children’s Hospital in Ann Arbor.

A Wilm’s tumor, also known as a nephroblastoma, is a rare kidney tumor, which for Wesley, doctors believe was probably present at birth or shortly thereafter. In late March 2022, she underwent surgery to remove the tumor and her left kidney, followed by 5 months of chemotherapy. Unfortunately scans following chemo demonstrated 6-7 new spots in her lungs. She then underwent radiation and an additional 10 months of chemotherapy, which ended in late August of 2023.

At that time, all scans were clear. But just two months later in October, she was hospitalized with a massive tumor growing aggressively in her chest. Her little heart was pushed out of place and breathing was difficult and painful. She began more intensive chemo treatments, hoping to shrink the tumor to make surgical removal safe. For a short time, the chemo was working, but the tumor had other plans and again, grew even more aggressively.

By the time her surgery occurred on February 19th, 2024, the tumor was 18cm x 15cm x 13cm (roughly 7 x 6 x 5 inches) and taking up about half of her chest cavity. Despite the high danger of bleeding due to the tumor's location near the main branch of the pulmonary artery and heart, the amazing team at Mott’s was able to successfully remove the entire tumor, but in the process, it also became necessary to remove her left lung.

She is recovering from surgery as expected; unfortunately, multiple new spots were just discovered in her chest, on lymph nodes, and on her diaphragm. She is currently undergoing three weeks of radiation at Mott's and staying with her mom and brother in a hotel room in Ann Arbor.

Because chemotherapy is no longer effective, Wesley has been accepted in an immunotherapy trial at Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston, which only accepts children who have run out of all other curative options (radiation is not considered curative). We don’t know exactly when she will be headed to Texas as there are many factors involved; however, we do know the hospital is in the process of manufacturing cells in preparation for her arrival and treatment. It is expected she will be there for at least 5 weeks.

Throughout all this, Wesley has been a warrior. Not by choice, but by circumstances. Despite pain, not feeling well most of the time, losing her hair, tiring very easily, sleeping often, and so much more, she still loves to play, laugh, use her imagination, play dress-up, jump, run, and explore nature. She is looking forward to going to school and being with other children. Her big blue eyes and sweet smile will melt your heart.

Thankfully their health insurance will continue to cover her medical expenses as well as transportation to Texas for Wesley and a parent and their hotel room, but they will still need help to cover other expenses.

Our goal is to raise $12,000 to help Emily, Jeff, Wesley and Wyatt. These funds will go to cover meals, laundry, and other expenses incurred while they are in Ann Arbor and then in Texas. It will also cover transportation and lost income for Jeff (he's self-employed), so he can take time off to be with Emily and the kids during Wesley’s treatment in Texas.

The funds will also enable them to move from a too small, two-bedroom rental to a larger three-bedroom rental home, which is much better suited for a family of four with a little one with medical needs (and much better than almost two years in a hospital, hotel, or car traveling to get treatments).

And as every mama understands, Emily would like to be able to provide Wesley with some fun life experiences when they return from Texas. She and Jeff would love to give Wesley a break from all the hospitals, doctors, and treatments and enjoy some fun outings doing things she loves like camping and visiting the zoo!

These past few years have been a strain on the family, physically, emotionally, and financially, so any help you can give is greatly appreciated.

Thank you so much for your support of my “Princess W” and her family. Your love, prayers and gifts mean so much to Emily, Jeff, Wesley and Wyatt and to all of us who love them.