Scarlett’s fight against cancer

Hi everyone, on the behalf of my sweet 3 year old daughter Scarlett, I’ve decided to start a go fund me. Scarlett has been diagnosed with B-Cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL).

Below I have also attached our Amazon wish list, these include toys to make life a little more fun, sanitary items, and gift cards to be used on Scarlett or food for the home.

https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/2RQFP6LF6BEJD?ref_=wl_share

SCARLETT’S STORY:

Things started with Scarlett in the last week of Dec ‘22. We noticed she kept getting random high fevers and complaining of leg pain. The 2nd week of January we knew something was really wrong— we went to her pediatrician for extensive blood work all week. We had lots of tests and panels done, trying to figure out what was wrong with our baby girl. We got a call Wednesday 1/25/23 from our pediatrician saying that Scarlett was anemic, her hemoglobin was extremely low and her complete blood count (CBC) came back showing that all her blood cells were low. Her white blood cell count was dangerously low. At first, it was suspected that Scarlett has a virus attacking her blood cells, but I knew in my gut it was something more serious. We had no answers at this point, and we were getting worried. The rest of the week, Scarlett seemed a little more full of energy and playful. She was great all day Thursday and Friday. But Friday night around midnight she came out of her room, saying she was so freezing cold (but was likely due to a high fever and she was sweating like crazy) and more leg pain. She went back to sleep but woke up Saturday morning and could not walk. At all. No pressure on her legs whatsoever. We called our pediatrician, and at this point it was in our best interest to take Scarlett to the emergency room at The Children’s Hospital. My husband, Jon, took her around 2 PM. They ran some blood work, Jon and Scarlett waited in the ER while I waited at home with our 1 year old daughter, Juliette. Around 10 PM as I was rocking Juliette to sleep Jon tried to call me, I asked him to give me a second to call back, and knew. I called him back and quietly he said “Hayli, they think it’s leukemia. Her blood count is showing “blast cells”” (blast cells are imposter white cells made from the leukemia as it takes over the cell production center, the bone marrow). I had my mom come watch Juliette and rushed over to the hospital, to be with Jon and Scarlett. Still no official diagnosis, as they can’t do that without a bone marrow biopsy, but the chances of it not being cancer were slim to none.

Fast forward to Monday 1/30/2023 Scarlett has her first procedure done, a bone marrow biopsy. They need to extract some bone marrow to confirm if the cancer is there. It came back a few hours later, and we got her official diagnosis. B-Cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia.

“Our daughter has cancer. Our sweet Scarlett, 3 years old… has cancer”. We couldn’t believe the words we were being told. We still can’t.

Wednesday 2/1/2023 Scarlett had her port put in, which is how she will get most of her treatment/chemo but also it’s easier for them to use for labs and etc. It will stay inside her chest for the next 2+ years. She also had a lumbar puncture done (think similar to a spinal tap) to make sure there were no cancer cells living in the spinal fluid, and inject chemo directly into the spinal fluid just to make it safe. She also has her first round of chemo that day. Luckily, we’re no cancer cells found in the spinal fluid.

Scarlett stayed in the hospital for 11 days, and was discharged late Wednesday 2/8/2023. The timeline in between those dates is very foggy— full of tears, sadness, frustration, anger, but most importantly positivity and hope. Jon and I went back and forth separately between the house and the hospital, spending time with each girl separately as much as our schedules would allow.

Now that Scarlett is home, she will start outpatient treatment. She will get chemo every week for the next 2 or more years, routine blood work and lumbar punctures. She will also get a few more bone marrow biopsy’s throughout this time.

Our life as we know it has forever changed. With this diagnosis comes a lot of caution, a lot of medication and a lot of staying home, & quarantining. Scarlett, especially in the “induction” phase of her treatment (currently), can get sick so easily. Her treatment is not only killing the leukemia, but killing some good cells too. That’s just how it goes.

Many may not know, but through all this we were in the process of moving to a new state. That is now on hold at least until Scarlett gets through her treatment. Our house and our things are kind of all over the place, or have been donated/gifted.

With all this being said, any funds raised will be used towards gas, medical bills, and making new accommodations to our current home to make life easier/comfortable for Scarlett. As well as fun, since we won’t be going out much like we used to. (Like we used to go to playgrounds, libraries, splash pads, etc frequently).

*Going by yearly expenses of what it’s going to cost for everything this is what we came up with however, anything large or small is so appreciated.

If you have read this through, I thank you so much from the bottom of my heart. Above anything, please pray for our baby girl as she has such a long road ahead. We are so positive that she will get through this and come out shining brighter than before. If anyone can show cancer what’s what, it’s this little girl. I will continue to post updates on here periodically as treatment continues for Scarlett.

Thank you and God Bless

-the Bhatia family.