When I asked Madison to tell the story of her having cancer, she said things like "I had two brain tumors. I had four rounds of chemo and 20 days of radiation. I had like a million labs and a lot of blood and platelet transfusions. I was in the hospital for a really long time!" There you have it, the basics of pediatric cancer from a child. But when I asked what good had come from her cancer, she said things like "I met the most amazing people and have different kinds of best friends now. Kelsey and Lauren and Sid and Lindsey and Colleen (a few of her favorite nurses) made me want to be a nurse when I grow up! I have people from my cancer journey that are family now." And that folks, is the amazing part of pediatric cancer! Would we change that Madison had cancer, YEP!! In a darn heartbeat! Do we now know what amazing really means? YEP you better believe it! Do any of you have pop sockets? Those little things that hold your phone up and without them there's no way for your phone to stand straight? Well think of the ASK Childhood Cancer Foundation as the pop socket and our family as the phone! They held us up in ways we didn't even know we needed to be held! Our first appointment at the clinic was nerve-wracking! Then we walked through the doors and Katie Barber yelled "Madison!!!" This woman we had never met knew our child. She knew what she had been through and she knew just how to put Madison's mind at ease! From that appointment on, we were supported financially, emotionally, medically. We received everything from gas cards to shoulders to cry on! We are participating in this now virtual 5K to support an organization that supported us when we didn't even know we needed support!! 

Reading all of this, it may should like a positive story! One that had few negatives. Well that is far from the real story. Madison had a severe allergic reaction to the carrier of one of the chemo meds. Seeing your child's face and lips blue while she screams and says she can't feel her body is terrifying! Leaving your son for almost a year of his life was tough!  Watching your child collapse into the doors at the ER because her blood count was too low rattled me to my core! Hearing the screams of your child when you told her that her best chemo buddy had passed was heartbreaking! Paying for gas and meals and snacks and medical bills was all like standing on a mountain that was falling under your feet! We have made it through this chapter of our lives! It's over! We still fear every single time there is a new possible symptom that there is a tumor somewhere! We are in the home stretch! BUT our book hasn't ended! The next chapters will be of us #LivingforPey and supporting ASK! Help me help other kids like Madison and Peyton!