Taylor's Fight Against Cancer
We are Jeremy and Karen McAdams-Royder, the proud grandparents of Taylor Shay Uvalle. If you have ever met Taylor, you would know how special she truly is. She is a brilliant 4-year old little girl who has always been bright for her age. She can be a little stubborn and anwry at times, (like most kids her age-we blame this on her being a Taurus like her pawpaw), but she is the sweetest and most loving child we have ever met. She has a love for horses and wears her cowgirl boots almost every day because she wants to be a cowgirl when she grows up. However, Our family has been given the news that no family wants to hear. Taylor has been diagnosed with B-cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia, a fast-growing cancer of the blood that begins in the bone marrow.
Taylor's Story
Taylor was rushed to the hospital on October 29th after her parents called 911 for a nose bleed that was out of control and vomiting blood. Shortly after arriving to the hospital, transfusions began, then she had to be life flighted to Scott & White children’s hospital in Temple, Texas for treatment. Her blood counts and platelets were at near fatal levels. Upon arriving to S&W, more transfusions were needed and within hours doctors felt very strongly we could be facing cancer. Sadly, this was confirmed within days and chemotherapy began right away. This is called the “induction phase” where aggressive chemotherapy is performed to kill as much of the cancer cells (“bad guys”) as possible, so her bone marrow can start to produce healthy cells ("good guys”) once again. In return, this causes her bones to sometimes ache and makes it nearly impossible for her body to fight off infections. Yesterday we found out that she is average risk, which means a 3-year treatment plan if the cancer goes into remission. At only 4-years old she is unbale to fully understand what is happening to her body. Although we have child life specialists that are helping us help her cope with this disease, she is still very frightened. Her hair has begun to fall out...this may seem trivial to an adult who understands the whys of the world, but to Taylor, it's devastating.
As parents, we cannot begin to fathom how our daughter and son-in-law are feeling at this time. Our hearts break watching theirs as they shatter into pieces. Then to see our sweet grandbaby so scared of what is going on around her, just decimates what is left. Taylor's mother, Kristin, left her job several months back to give birth the newest member of the family: Taylors baby sister, Ryleigh Naveen, now 2 months old. Due to this life changing illness, Kristin is unable to return to work currently, leaving the financial burdens of the family solely on the father, Jessie. We cannot imagine his stress level and the pressure he must be under right now. Money was already tight for this working class family, and they are fighting a losing financial battle to secure life's most basic needs. 
We want to make sure Jessie and Kristin are stress free of their financial burdens and can focus on helping Taylor fight and recover from this terrible disease, as well as their newest baby girl Ryleigh. We are asking our friend and family for help to achieve this goal. Please pray for the family, and if you feel it upon your heart to help, please donate to relieve some of their financial burdens. Any bit helps, and you will be greatly appreciated more than you will ever know. The family will be using these funds to help with travel expenses getting Taylor to and from weekly treatments and hospital stays, living expenses, as well as medical expenses.
Cancer in a child spreads its darkness through the hearts of the everyone who loves them.
