September: Pediatric Cancer Awareness Month

Pediatric Cancer Awareness Month..Our Journey With Cancer

September is pediatric cancer awareness month so I thought I would take this time to look back on our journey with cancer. I will always look back at June 14, 2010 as the day our lives were turned upside down. Kylee had been suffering for several weeks with what we thought were migraine headaches. As a mother I knew deep down something was wrong and so I called Dr's and nurses and made trips to the ER everyday for 3 weeks. Three weeks may not seem like a very long time but when you are watching your child suffer every day three weeks seems like a life time. On June 14th we took Kylee in for a CT scan. I left there feeling like everything was fine and that they would be calling me soon to say they found nothing and would begin treating Kylee for migraine headaches. Instead the Dr called me...wait the Dr...yes...I should have known right then and there something was really wrong. The Dr never calls. Then the words came out..Karen..we found something on Kylee's CT scan. We believe it is a tumor and we need to get you to Milwaukee to Children's Hospital as soon as possible. My heart dropped. She is not suppose to have a tumor...she has migraine headaches...NOT a tumor. A million thoughts and emotions went thru my head. How am I going to tell my husband...how am I going to tell my kids...why Kylee...what else can happen to this poor little girl. I wasn't sure if I should cry, be angry, be strong or to throw up. I got myself together and started packing and off to Milwaukee we headed. The next day was full of tests and the day seemed to last forever. Then cancer came into our lives with out an invitation. There was no going back. We now had huge hurdles to cross. We had to make decisions about our daughters life and our life that we never thought we would have to make. We had to decide what a quality of life was for Kylee and our family. We had to decide if we would have surgery to remove the tumor and do chemo and radiation or if we would do nothing and let cancer run its course. Those were the hardest days of my life. I don't know how I got thru them but I did and we are now on week 6 of radiation. It has been a raging river that we are crossing but we are taking one pebble at a time...a mountain to climb one step at a time...one day at a time...one second at a time....Kylee steps. Whatever it takes us to get thru this.

A gold ribbon has been the symbol of childhood cancer since 1970. Please post this gold ribbon on your facebook page or blog page to show your support during September for pediatric cancer.

Most people would not guess by looking at me that my middle child is amongst the one in 330 that will develop cancer by the age of 19. My oldest will start school this fall and1 in 46 kids in the United States will be diagnosed with cancer every school day. I may work as a claims adjuster for a medical insurance company but my house looks like a hospital and I play the roll of nurse on a daily basis.

Our journey with cancer has just begun but I am grateful that we are still a family of five and enjoy each day I have with Kylee. Our life is full of of daily trips to the hospital, radiation, chemo, bald head and lots of emotions but I still have my Kylee and that is all that matters.
This is and will be a very difficult journey however the love and support from our friends, family and strangers provides us with not only strength and financial support but the ability to feel happiness and enjoy laughter in one of our darkest moments. We could never thank everyone enough for everything you have done for us.