A Promise to Peyton

Hi, my name is Katie and I am organizing this fundraiser on behalf of Peyton, Nicole, Pete, and Yaki. As the honorary 5th Bartone sister, I have had the pleasure of watching Nicole grow up and feel honored to be "Aunt Katester" to Peyton. On Monday 12/18/23, one week before Christmas, Nicole received news that no mother ever wants to hear. She has taken it in stride, put on a brave face for her 4 year old daughter, and is determined to do everything in power to get Peyton healthy again. I am hoping to raise mental, emotional, spiritual, and financial support to help reduce some of the financial worry she and Pete may have so they can focus solely on taking care of Peyton, Yaki, and each other. All funds raised will go directly to Nicole to help pay medical bills, gas, household expenses, etc. No one can tell her story better than mama bear herself, so please read below:

"We came to the hospital for worsening foot pain and a limp. Her pediatrician had previously drawn labs to rule out Lyme disease and had found blood counts low all around. Common for kids with viruses. He and the ED and floor physicians all assured us that dozens of kids are walking around right now with the same blood counts, we just don’t run labs on kids with viruses. The labs remained unchanged for four days in the hospital while they did further testing to figure out the source of her foot pain. A fracture was found and we were discharged home with plans to do follow up blood work in a week. We knew the scary stuff was still a possibility but it seemed low - there was not one blood cell overwhelmingly higher than the others which I’m told is common, she had no fatigue, no bruising, no fevers other than one night in the hospital. We figured we’d just be slightly on edge until the follow up. We got a call the day after discharge saying some labs that had resulted late showed a tiny amount of abnormal cell growth and the doctor recommended that we return for a bone marrow biopsy ASAP.

The results showed that Peyton does have B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia. They started treatment right away. She’s gone through more in the last week than most people probably do in their lifetime but is in good spirits. I understand things will get much worse before they start to get better again and this will be a long road. We are blown away by all the support and offers to help. Once we return home we will probably need all the support and help we can get. Asking mostly for thoughts/prayers for now. I think people worry about messaging me and being a bother - you are not. I find all the messages comforting and do not mind the questions - it helps me cope. Just don’t be offended if it takes me 48 hours to respond!

Something that would be not directly benefiting Peyton but super meaningful would be considering to donate blood and/or join the bone marrow registry. Someone else recommended this and I thought it was a great idea. Peyton received her first blood transfusion yesterday and I’m sure it’s far from her last. I know blood donations are always needed. A bone marrow transplant is not part of her treatment plan but it’s simple to join and could make a huge difference for someone "

For those of you who don't know Nicole or her 3 sisters personally, her last statement illustrates the true Bartone nature. They are kind, compassionate, generous, and empathic. Peyton is a literal ray of sunshine. She is sweet, loving, adventurous, talkative and HAPPY. She loves to take care of her baby dolls and dreams of being spiderman. Nicole is kind, smart, loving, and fiercely dedicated to her daughter. She works as a nurse and was awarded the Florence Nightingale Award in May 2019 for her excellence in nursing. Now she needs to take time away to care for her most important patient.

My promise to Peyton is to love her unconditionally, support her every step of the way, and hold nothing but hope for her future. Will you join me?