It's Been A Year...

It's been a year today since my daughter Chloe was diagnosed with Leukemia. It feels like 5 years since that day. I think about this day last year and I still get very upset. I still wonder why this had to happen to my daughter. I wonder what I could have done differently... It still baffles my mind why SHE has it... She has been asking me a lot lately why God created Leukemia and why He gave it to her. I hate that question!

It has been a really emotional time in the life of our family. EVERYTHING has changed! I really don't know how else to explain it.

I thought I'd share some photos of this last year. I want everyone to see how far my daughter has come. She is a fighter and the strongest little girl I have ever known! She is doing AMAZINGLY well. Absolutely NO cancer cells whatsoever in her body! She still takes medication every day and chemo once a month. She has bone marrow tests every 3 months now (there was time when she had them weekly). She is in Kindergarten, making lots of friends, in an accelerated reading program in her class and she is a budding artist. She makes us very proud!

This is a photo of Chloe from October of 2007, about a month before we learned that she had Leukemia. She was 4 years old.

This is Chloe and her Daddy in the hospital. She was probably on chemo for about a week here. She still has all of her hair and the IV in her arm.

This is the play room at the hospital. Drawing and doing craftsy projects was the only thing that would keep her interest. She would hardly talk and was unable to walk. She had been on chemo for about a month here. She gained a lot of weight. The drugs made her look really puffy and she started to get the apetite of a grown man.

Chloe was able to go home on Christmas Eve from the hospital. She was in and out for a few months after that. She'd get sick, or have allergic reactions to her medication. There was one point where they taught me how to give her chemo at home through her portocath, so I wouldn't have to take her to the hospital. This was me and Nurse Teri taking the needle out of her portocath. She was still able to hold onto a little hair at this point. She wouldn't let me cut it.

February, 2008 ~ This was Chloe on her 5th birthday enjoying a cupcake. I think this is the worst that she looked. Very sickly, but believe it or not, she behaved just like any other 5 year old on her birthday! It was a good day for her.

March, 2008 ~ By Easter Chloe was beginning to look and act like her old self again.

July, 2008 ~ Chloe started her last round of intense chemo in May. This last round was so bad that she woke up one day and ALL OF HER HAIR had fallen out! Seriously! That fast! It was all over her clothes, her pillow, all over the bed. I couldn't believe it! This was a rough time because her attitude was BAD! She was on a steroid that just killed her personality ~ always angry and just a general sense of joylessness. It was rough!

One of the happiest days of my life was the day that she started Kindergarten, just 2 short months ago. I am teary eyed just writing this now...I was SO VERY thankful that she was able to start on time! I dropped her off and then left SOBBING!!! WE GOT HER THERE ON TIME!


Last month she was able to ride the Zamboni at a Kings game. It was Hockey Fights Cancer night at the Staples Center here in Los Angeles. Chloe was one of 2 kids with Cancer that got to ride around in the Zamboni between periods.

Well, so that is a quick summary of Chloe's last year. I am so very proud of my little girl. So, today is 1 year. She has 1 1/2 more years of chemo, then she is done. If the Cancer does not return for 5 years, she will be considered cured. So we pray everyday that she will not relapse and that she makes it to 12 years old just like any other child. As her doctor's say, we are still climbing up the mountain". BUT TODAY ~ we are almost halfway up!

WE LOVE YOU CHU-CHU!