“Someday, God willing, we are going to beat all the odds and make childhood cancer a thing of the past.”-Danny Thomas {founder of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital}

I met Aspen a week ago. She seems like your typical five year old. She’s just a little shy, but really upbeat and so silly and kind. Aspen is a fighter. She’s fighting a battle most of us will never understand. She’s fighting against the number one child killer.

Aspen’s mom, Tiffany, describes her as the kind of kid who makes an entire room light up with her smile. I can see what she means. Life before her diagnosis was much slower. Much calmer. Aspen is the oldest of 3. Her younger brothers are three and under one. Life was undoubtedly busy, but not in the same way it is now. It just can’t compare.

Everything started to spiral when at four years old, earlier this year, Aspen was visiting the doctor once a week. A stomach bug one week, a cold or a virus the next. Lots of fevers, lots of throwing up, hardly any eating. She was so sick. But after every visit, Tiffany would hear the same thing, “it’s just a virus. It will run it’s course. Come back if she’s not feeling better in a week”. She would follow the doctors orders and keep repeating the routine. Week after week. Visit after visit.

One weekend, Aspen stayed at her grandmother’s house. Thank goodness for grandma who was very upset when she noticed a bruise on Aspen’s shin. Tiffany had no idea where it came from. So back to the doctor they went, this time checking for anemia. Dr. Clark was a fill in that day. Thank heaven for that! He looked at Aspen and knew she was unwell. He was immediately concerned and ordered a chest x-ray and did a hemoglobin test. Her hemoglobin level was 4.7. Most of us have a hemoglobin level of at leas 11.4. Dr. Clark told them to get to children’s mercy immediately. He wasn’t sure how Aspen was even awake.

When they got to Children’s Mercy, Tiffany was interrogated. They noticed Aspen had a popped blood vessel in her eye and they wanted to know if Tiffany had hit her. They took blood an hour later. The doctor walked in and said he had bad news. The blood work showed that Aspen had leukemia. Tiffany was numb. She had wished her husband had been there while the news had been broken. They were transferred to Children’s Mercy North and on the next day were informed she has Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia.

These last few months have been a huge learning process. Aspen is on tons of medications and has a port in her chest. Tiffany has to watch for signs that things are turning more serious. If Aspen has a fever, they have to go stay at the hospital, every time. For at least twenty-four hours. It’s all been such a hard and difficult transition.

Aspen has been doing great with treatment, and has had few side effects so far. She knows she’s sick but she doesn’t want to talk about it. Tiffany says it has changed her though, “She isn’t a bubbly berson anymore. She is more emotional and serious, like her childhood isn’t enjoyable anymore.” She’s been loosing her hair, which she’s been handling fine, the clumps of hair on her pillow don’t seem to bother her. She just doesn’t want any more haircuts.

Aspen and her family could really use your help. Follow this link to their GoFundMe page. Please give even a little to help this young family in this huge battle they are fighting.

Did you know that one in 330 children will be diagnosed with cancer by the time they turn twenty? Did you know that less than 5% of the federal government’s total funding for cancer research is dedicated to childhood cancers each year? Did you know that 30-45% of parents of a child with cancer experience symptoms of PTSD? Did you know there have only been two chemo drugs developed for kids in the last 20 years? Did you know cancers found in children are biologically different from those seen in adults, yet they are often given the same treatment? Let’s take a stand for these children!