Lucy Alana, at 23 months old, has always been a very happy, playful baby. She always is trying to put a smile on someones face. Hit all her milestones, crawling, walking etc. Looking into her big blue eyes you would never know Leukemia cells were slowly forming. 

Lucy started developing small fevers and at that point we were told that we were exposed to COVID-19 by a co-worker of mine. I (Ashley) personally started getting ill and with Lucy we were just keeping an eye on her fever and in contact with her pediatrician. Brandon and I got tested and were waiting on our results. On January 13th, Lucy woke up with a fever that we could no longer tame with Tylenol and Motrin and at this point made an appointment to have her seen by her doctor. Brandon took her to her appointment and they ran blood tests. These results were showing her iron levels were dangerous low, meaning she was anemic. Her doctor then called the hospital to tell them Brandon and Lucy  were on their way for a possible blood transfusion. 

When they got to the hospital, Lucy's fever was now in excess of 103. After waiting for what seemed like forever, they ran more tests and hooked her up to fluids to get her rehydrated. On January 14th, she was officially diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. This is a common type of childhood cancer at her age and the doctors said she is in the low/standard risk and has a 90-95% survival rate. She then received a blood transfusion, that in itself making her come back into her happy, almost 2 year old self. After her diagnosis her doctors came up with an aggressive plan to tackle the leukemia cells and have Lucy come out on top.

Beginning this plan Lucy  would have surgery to insert a Port-A-Cath into her chest that would give a more efficient way to draw blood and give chemo via a catheter feeding into a main artery (like a more permanent IV). Along with the placement of her port she would also have bone marrow taken to see just how bad the cancer was. She also had a small dose of chemo injected into her spinal fluid to help prevent any cancer cells from hiding there. For the next 30 days Lucy would be on several different medications along with receiving chemotherapy several times.

As I was home battling COVID, Brandon was able to stay with Lucy in the hospital, both of us going through this news alone only able to talk through phone calls and FaceTime. As I was starting to feel better, Lucy was almost able to come home. Two days before she would be discharged she developed a fever. The hospital drew blood to run tests. It came back showing she had developed an infection, from bacteria in her stomach.  She would be staying a little longer until they were able to find the correct antibiotic to fight this infection.

On January 24th I was able to get a rapid COVID test to make sure I was negative and able to go see Lucy. When I got to the hospital that night they were having trouble with her port. A quick x-ray later they found out her port had kinked in her neck and was no longer working properly. She now needed surgery for the 2nd time to replace that port in fear that the bacteria would be hiding in it. We were then told she would be in the hospital for 2 more weeks for observation and to finish out her antibiotic. Brandon, having used all of his PTO, was now using unpaid FMLA in order to stay with Lucy for her remaining time in the hospital.

Lucy was responding well to her treatments. All of her counts were going up and her doctors were VERY happy with how everything was looking. On February 6th we got some good news (finally). Lucy was able to be discharged from the hospital. We got a home health nurse set up to show us how to administer her antibiotic and she would be able to come home on the 7th. This was great news as Lucy's birthday is February 8th, so she got to be home for her birthday!! We came home late afternoon on the 7th and started slowly adjusting to home life. It was so good to have our family back under one roof. 

Lucy did have an appointment for a chemo treatment on the 8th, Brandon took her, but they were having trouble with her port again and had more x-rays done to see what was going on. They found out that her port had detached itself ,and did a 180 flip, and was no longer working. She was scheduled for another surgery to yet again replace her port the next day (Feb 9th). I was glad she did get to still come home and spend the rest of her Birthday at home. That evening we had family members come to our porch to sing happy birthday and celebrate her 2nd birthday as best we could. Tuesday, February 9th, she was back at the hospital to get surgery for the 3rd time. She now has her 3rd port, and was able to get the chemo she missed Monday.

Lucy has her bad days, but for the most part she is doing really well and is the strongest 2 year old I have ever met. Her blood counts are continuing to get better, and her ANC (absolute neutrophil count) levels keep rising, which is amazing as those are her infection fighters. 

In the midst of this pandemic we were thrown a curveball with our precious daughter Lucy developing cancer. We are humbly asking for donations to help cover Lucy's medical bills and chemo treatments along with any other surprise bills we may get throughout her 2 years of treatment. We understand times are tough for everyone right now and not everyone will be able to donate so there is absolutely no pressure. Please only donate if you are truly able to. If you're not able to donate, all we ask is that you keep Lucy in your thoughts and prayers and share this story. From the bottom of our hearts thank you for reading Lucy's story and for your heartfelt donation. Lucy will strike out this cancer and win this battle. 


All our love,
Lucy, Brandon & Ashley