Meet our Girl of the Year - Madison!

Meet our Girl of the Year - Madison!

MadisonMadisonFrom the time that Madison was born, she was an absolute joy to anyone that she came in contact with.  She was the caboose to our little family and the piece that we didn’t realize we were missing until she was here.  She became her brother’s best friend and her sister’s partner in crime along with the apple of our eye.  Our sweet girl was always one of the most stubborn and strong willed children that we know and that hasn’t changed.  She’s never been a whiner, but when something is bothering her she is sure to have no problem letting you know. 

In early 2020, she ran a fever twice in about a month with no symptoms then while out shopping she complained about being too tired to walk and her legs hurting.  I figured that she was just tired and possibly hitting a growth spurt like most 4 year olds do and her being tired was causing her to be whiny.  We went home from shopping she had a low grade fever that broke with Tylenol She went to her dad’s that Friday and when she came home, he let me know that she had been tired all weekend also was running a fever and didn’t really have an appetite, which was not like Madi at all.  She was always a ball of energy and very rarely refused food.  Something about her behavior just didn’t sit well with me, so I decided to take her to the doctor just to be safe.  I took her to our local walk in clinic who tested her for strep and the flu which both were negative. Her blood pressure was elevated and they recommended I bring her to her pediatrician the next day which was a Monday, but prescribed her antibiotics to perk her up. I knew something wasn’t ok with my baby so I ignored that doctor and went straight to the emergency room where they rushed her into the back quickly bc her fever and high blood pressure. They ran labs, and a chest x Ray after returning from the x Ray the Dr. came in and told me the news that her hemoglobin level was a 2.6 and she needed blood immediately. My first thought was my child has some type of internal bleeding. We were told that she was going to be transferred to Little Rock Children's Hospital to have more tests run and because she desperately needed blood. She was air lifted to the hospital and the waiting game started. 

Madison had a battery of tests run to rule out a lot of different diseases and the bone marrow aspiration was scheduled.  She was such a trooper and took everything in stride.  It took less that 30 minutes for the bone marrow results to come back and we were taken into a private room to be told that Madi’s bone marrow was over 90% leukemia cells.  She was diagnosed with B Cell  Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL).  And just like that, our lives were changed.  They wasted no time moving us up to the Children’s Oncology floor from PICU and setting up meetings to discuss the next steps and what needed to happen.  Her prognosis was good, but the doctors informed us that this was going to be a long hard road, and that we needed to prepare ourselves for what was to come.  She’s been undergoing treatment since March of 2020 and her hair is growing back.  Madison has tolerated the rigorous treatment like a champ and keeps a positive outlook on her entire situation.  She is a fighter!  She has a long road ahead of her, but she’s fearless and is facing it with a smile on her face. 

Some of Madison's favorite things include baby dolls, little figurine unicorns, doing cartwheels, art projects, and play dough.