A year ago, my daughter, Arabelle Tetlow, was diagnosed with B-cell Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia (ALL). And, my, what a warrior she has been!

It all started with a fever and urinary tract infection, where our pediatrician ordered blood work that came back abnormal. She recommended we see a hematologist, and thanks to a friend, we got introduced to Dr. Alan Ikeda from the Cure4theKids foundation. At first, he was skeptical it was leukemia because her platelet count was normal, which is usually low in leukemia patients.

So, we planned a follow-up in a few months with more lab work. Then Arabelle didn’t walk for a weekend, and when she started walking again, she did so with a limp, which alarmed us. (We didn’t know it at the time, but with leukemia, the bone marrow swells, causing pain in the extremities.) Dr. Alan suggested we do a bone marrow biopsy to rule out leukemia; instead, it confirmed that that is what she had. The day was September 15, 2021. We went home that night numb and completely changed. And the very next day, treatment started.

Since then, Belle has had two surgeries, multiple hospital stays, COVID, lost her hair, and learned to swallow her chemo pills at the age of three years old. Throughout this journey, we have been blessed to have amazing family, friends, and strangers-turned-friends help us in so many ways, BUT we are still in need. Arabelle has at least until November 2023 for treatment, and there are ongoing expenses that come along. We are lucky to have insurance, but it doesn’t cover everything.

Traveling to the clinic usually monthly plus hospital copays (which often run to $450 or more) are just a few of the ongoing expenses, and now there are the higher gas prices! At first, we were able to manage the added expenses, but they just keep on coming. So now we are struggling to keep up with the persistent bills and added expenses.

We never thought we would be in this situation because no one anticipates their two-year-old will be diagnosed with cancer. Unfortunately, Arabelle had the bad luck of being one of the 285 kids diagnosed with cancer before the age of 20 every year!

Arabelle loves Disney princesses, her name was a combination of Ariel and Belle, and we bought her a lot of princess jammies as they were easy to access her port for treatment. She walked the hallways of the clinic and hospital waving to nurses and patients and got the nickname of Warrior Princess. Please help this warrior continue her fight and recover from this horrible diagnosis. Thank you from the Team4Arabelle family!

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