My name is Maya and I was diagnosed with Leukemia on January 22, 2021.

Before I was diagnosed I was feeling very tired and had a low grade fever for a couple of days, we thought I had COVID, I got tested twice but it was negative. My mom made an appointment with my doctor to make sure everything was fine.I also had to get a baby tooth pulled so when that happened it took me 3-4 days to recover, I was very pale and tired. My mom knew something wasn’t right but we never thought Leukemia.

It was my pediatrician who found out through a simple blood test done at her office, she sent us straight to the Emergency Room. We went there for more testing and I ended up staying there for 10 days. I started chemotherapy right away and that was the beginning of the hardest year of my life. I remember being afraid and scared, specially after nurses and doctors were talking about cancer. My Oncologist sat with us and told us about my prognosis and treatment, step by step, told us about all the side effects of all the different medicines I was going to receive for the next year, that was very overwhelming.

I have had many infections and complications along the way, it has been difficult to spend so much time in the hospital, away from my sister and my friends but I am very grateful that I have 3 more treatments and I will be finished with the main part of my treatment. After that I will enter “Maintenance” and that will be for 18 months but it won’t be as intense as what I just went through. I have been so blessed to have the support of my parents, my sister, my grandparents and so many friends from school, dance, neighbors, etc. and they all have helped me so much along the way. Some days have been hard, especially when I’ve been very sick in the hospital but I feel like through prayers I have been able to stay happy and at peace through it all.