I asked Madison, “What was life like before leukemia?”
The summer after Madison’s freshman year was a busy but simple one. A normal summer. They had just moved to a new town nine weeks before school was out. Madison didn’t let that slow her down. She’s a loving and accepting person and was quick to make friends. She tried out and made it into select choir. Madison spent the summer swimming with her brothers while Angilee, their mom, worked and worked. She was excited about her Sophmore year. She would be busy with choir and marching band and art classes.
Madison had two moles since birth that she really wanted removed before the next school year. Angilee called a plastic surgeon and made the appointment for August eighth, two days before band camp would start. Angilee notes that a couple of weeks before the surgery, Madison started sleeping a lot, being cranky and wasn’t sure if she wanted to even do band camp anymore. It had been something she was excited about because she would get to play the piccolo this year. But she wasn’t sure anymore. She said that she didn’t have the energy and she felt clumsy. Angilee thought maybe it was nerves or just a teenage thing.
August 8. Madison went in for the simple mole removal surgery. Angilee remembers having to sign the pathology consent papers. For some reason, it was funny to her. She even remembers commenting to the check-in nurse, “Just another way to use up my insurance, the moles are just being removed for cosmetic reasons”. However, she signed and Madison had her procedure.
August 11. First day of band camp. Madison refuses to get up and go to band camp that morning. She says she can’t, her head hurts and she’s so tired. Angilee goes to work frustrated with her.
Starting on Thursday the 14th a long, horrible process begins, games of phone tag, eleven voicemails in all, none of them expressing the urgency that should have been there. Angilee would only be able to check and call back on her lunch break; they would be on lunch break too. Looking back, it felt careless. Why weren’t the concerns and details given to her from the beginning? After blood tests, Angilee receives a call from the doctor during her lunch break this time. He’d like to see Madison as soon as possible. They come in on September 4th. By the 5th she has been diagnosed with ALL or Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. They learned that 98% of her bone marrow was cancer, 7% was in her blood, and miraculously, there had been two small escape cells in her mole removal that had first sounded the alarm. They know God was watching out for them, helping it to get caught when it did.
“…for the first eight or so months it was like rapids.”
As the news was given to Angilee and Madison, Angilee broke down. Madison went into shock. Madison remembers, “My mom cried. I mean, I did too, but more so because it broke my heart to see my mom in that much emotional pain rather than the cancer diagnosis. I don’t really remember feeling any certain way about it. It kind of freaked my oncologist out a bit; I can remember him asking, ‘Are you okay? You seem really calm right now, that isn’t normal’.”
Treatment starts right away. They had to pack for five days. It just so happened that September 5th was National Stand Up to Cancer Day.
Twenty-four hours after the diagnosis, Angilee remembers hearing Madison’s take on the situation: “It is what it is.”
Her leukemia has a 90% cure rate, but the genetic test lowered that to 70%. The treatment will take two and a half years to complete ending on December 29 of 2017. She won’t be declared cancer free and a survivor until she is twenty-three. Still, her reaction: “It is what it is.”
There have been blood clots that require twice daily shots for two months, a seizure in February, the loss of her hair twice, and she’s taken more pills in twelve months than most of us will in our lifetimes. During the first six months, Madison had muscle atrophy and developed moderate scoliosis that she is now treating with physical therapy. At this point in treatment, they go in once a month for IV chemo, the rest is all at home.
Madison describes the last year of her life, “(it) has been both amazing and awful. Obviously, the cancer bit of it was not the amazing part, but I have been opened up to so many things that I would not have been otherwise. I have had the opportunity to meet and experience so many amazing things. On the downside, you are also opened up to many negativeness as well. You start learning the figures for the ‘five year survival rate’, the chance you have of recurrence, and you lose people you care about to the same illness you yourself are fighting. But, you cherish the time you got with them.”
They have felt the support of many through this last year. Angilee remarks, “No one is lucky to get cancer of any kind; no family should have to experience watching a loved one go through the treatment and all the pain it causes. But we have had many good things come from out of the last year. We have met so many wonderful people that are so supportive and generous. Some of whom have gone or were going through he same thing with their child or children. We have learned that no day is guaranteed and to take breaks and just enjoy the moment, don’t hold on to anger, accept what is and deal with it.”
I’m so impressed with Madison. She’s graceful and beautiful. She’s kind. I asked her how she stays positive, “I remind myself to fight for others, that I am strong, no matter what knocks me down. I set myself as an example to help inspire others to keep fighting, to help remind them that they can do it too.” She’s a fighter, she’s taking it head on and one day at a time. She hopes to attend an optometry school someday and wants to start her own childhood cancer foundation for teens and bring awareness to their situation.
They have faith and believe that God is in control.
At this time, Madison’s Go Fund Me campaign has raised $200 in four months. They raised $1300 only to pay for gas and various travel expenses in the very beginning with another campaign. As you may imagine, two and a half years of treatment is much more expensive than all that. I believe we can work together to help them raise more! Please share this and ask your friends to consider donating even $5… a little can go a long way! While you are there (or even in the comments here), offer your words of encouragement. Help Madison stay strong and feel lifted by the love and prayers of friends and strangers.
We met on September 9th in this golden sunflower field for pictures. It’s our goal to bring awareness to the issue of Childhood Cancer. Please help us in this goal. Thank you for reading and sharing Madison’s story!
Keep fighting Madison! Love, Jillian
