“Beginning of February, maggie woke up one day and refused to put any weight whatsoever on her right leg and would cry when i would put her down. Took her straight to the peds office and they sent us to the ER, we were then transferred to the Childrens ER, where an ultrasound showed fluid on in her hip joint. She had had a fever for roughly 2 weeks straight but we thought the fever was where she had covid.

They drained the fluid and sent it off to rule out infection, everything came back clear. They attempted to tell us it was all covid related (fever and fluid in the joint). After being very adamant that i knew it was not covid, they dug further into her blood work which revealed low white blood cells, low red blood cells, and low hemoglobin. All 3 combined with a fever and fluid was enough of a sign to run the test for cancer and they were already planning transportation to st Jude’s without even having the results.

We spent 2 months in Memphis, for the first part of treatment. And now we are doing weekly chemo treatments in Johnson City at the St Jude affiliate clinic with monthly lumbar punctures for the next 2 years.