Ellie’s Journey to Health
Donation protected
Hi. My name is Tracy Ward. Ellie Jean Smith our 4 year old granddaughter & here’s her story:
Ellie’s story!
Ellie started being very sick in November, she had some swollen lymph nodes and fevers and you could just tell she didn’t feel good, good blood work done at her pediatrician and it came back she had mono! So fast forward to early January and we notice some more swollen lymph nodes and fevers are back, back to the pediatrician and she had Covid! Forward to end of January and she’s still not feeling good, barely eating, always tired, and more swollen nodes. Back to the pediatrician and she did chest X-rays and calls me and hour later and says she’s admitting Ellie to osf because she had swollen lymph nodes in her chest and she was worried it was cancer. Absolutely heart breaking and terrified we spent a month at osf, multiple tests ran, so much blood work, all the cancer tests keep coming back negative but something just isn’t right. She had a bone marrow biopsy done and it came back clean, so they decided to do a lymph node biopsy and the pathologist was so sure it looked like lymphoma but kept coming back negative so they sent it to Memphis for DNA testing. It took a week, one anxious filled week and we got the news no parent wants to hear, definitely lymphoma. They began treatment that day because the lymph nodes in her chest were so swollen it was causing fluid to fill up her chest and she had to have a chest tub inserted. She was on treatment for about a month and she was feeling better but still wasn’t back to 100%, the doctors were concerned because by that time she should’ve been back to 100% feeling so much better but she just wasn’t. That’s when they decided a second opinion at Cincinnati childrens was the best next option because the doctors were concerned it might’ve not even been cancer at that point, they were all just very confused cause all of her tests were not adding up. The day before she was set to leave they got Ellie’s regular DNA testing back which showed a mutation in the ATM gene called ataxia telangiectasia (AT for short) and it started making sense from there. With this mutation her body is VERY sensitive to chemo therapy so essentially the chemo she was receiving before they found this was killing the lymphoma but also hurting her body. So they still decided to send her to Cincinnati because the doctors there have treated cancer patients with this mutation before and they knew how much she could handle and what she couldn’t. She spent 7 weeks in Cincinnati and finally got to come home! They have her on a very lowered chemo therapy, which should still be killing the lymphoma but not hurting her as well. Since they found this and got her on right treatment it was been a completely different experience! She is so much happier, and playful, she actually likes going to the clinic at osf now to see her buddies! We feel like we’ve finally got our Ellie Jean back ❤️ she just finished her 2nd phase of chemo and she has scans next week to make sure the treatment is working and she can continue onto the next phase! We appreciate everyone’s prayers, words of encouragement, and just reaching out to see how she is. We’ve been so overwhelmed but the support in the community we have gotten! We are so blessed with the doctors and nurses at osf and Cincinnati childrens! Thank you all for your support!❤️
Ellie’s story!
Ellie started being very sick in November, she had some swollen lymph nodes and fevers and you could just tell she didn’t feel good, good blood work done at her pediatrician and it came back she had mono! So fast forward to early January and we notice some more swollen lymph nodes and fevers are back, back to the pediatrician and she had Covid! Forward to end of January and she’s still not feeling good, barely eating, always tired, and more swollen nodes. Back to the pediatrician and she did chest X-rays and calls me and hour later and says she’s admitting Ellie to osf because she had swollen lymph nodes in her chest and she was worried it was cancer. Absolutely heart breaking and terrified we spent a month at osf, multiple tests ran, so much blood work, all the cancer tests keep coming back negative but something just isn’t right. She had a bone marrow biopsy done and it came back clean, so they decided to do a lymph node biopsy and the pathologist was so sure it looked like lymphoma but kept coming back negative so they sent it to Memphis for DNA testing. It took a week, one anxious filled week and we got the news no parent wants to hear, definitely lymphoma. They began treatment that day because the lymph nodes in her chest were so swollen it was causing fluid to fill up her chest and she had to have a chest tub inserted. She was on treatment for about a month and she was feeling better but still wasn’t back to 100%, the doctors were concerned because by that time she should’ve been back to 100% feeling so much better but she just wasn’t. That’s when they decided a second opinion at Cincinnati childrens was the best next option because the doctors were concerned it might’ve not even been cancer at that point, they were all just very confused cause all of her tests were not adding up. The day before she was set to leave they got Ellie’s regular DNA testing back which showed a mutation in the ATM gene called ataxia telangiectasia (AT for short) and it started making sense from there. With this mutation her body is VERY sensitive to chemo therapy so essentially the chemo she was receiving before they found this was killing the lymphoma but also hurting her body. So they still decided to send her to Cincinnati because the doctors there have treated cancer patients with this mutation before and they knew how much she could handle and what she couldn’t. She spent 7 weeks in Cincinnati and finally got to come home! They have her on a very lowered chemo therapy, which should still be killing the lymphoma but not hurting her as well. Since they found this and got her on right treatment it was been a completely different experience! She is so much happier, and playful, she actually likes going to the clinic at osf now to see her buddies! We feel like we’ve finally got our Ellie Jean back ❤️ she just finished her 2nd phase of chemo and she has scans next week to make sure the treatment is working and she can continue onto the next phase! We appreciate everyone’s prayers, words of encouragement, and just reaching out to see how she is. We’ve been so overwhelmed but the support in the community we have gotten! We are so blessed with the doctors and nurses at osf and Cincinnati childrens! Thank you all for your support!❤️
Anything helps! She has a long road ahead of her.
Organizer and beneficiary
Rob N Tracy Ward
Organizer
Cape Coral, FL
Emma Ward
Beneficiary