The Whitfield Family

Michaela was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia on June 12th 2023. Shortly before this, Michaela was a shy and easy going little girl. The 3rd of my 4 girls. Within a months time she fell and broke 2 bones. After taking her to the Orthopedic specialist at Shand's, I insisted something was not right with my child who had fallen playing in her room and then losing her balance, resulting in broken bones. After asking for blood work, and them not being ordered...just a few short days after Michaela left the Orthopedic Doctor, she refused to walk.

For Michaela to lay around and "sleep a lot" was not uncommon for her. She has always been the chill child. She is the kid you can take anywhere and never hear a peep from her! I took her to the local ER and they ran test after test and couldn't find anything but Michaela still refused to walk. About 2 hours later, we went to Nemour's Children's Hospital in Orlando. They took labs and ordered an MRI which she needed to be sedated for, as they thought she could have had joint sepsis or an infection in her bone. Little did we know....about 12 hours later, we would get the most gut wrenching news and our lives would forever be changed.

Michaela was taken down for her MRI, she was suppose to be down there a few hours because they were going to scan her entire body. However, she was back in the room in a matter of an hour. The nurse said "It'll be a few hours and then the Doctor will give you the results"....5 minutes later, the hospital room that was once filled with what seemed like 15 doctors (it looked like an episode of Grey's Anatomy), was now empty with only the attending physician and one resident. I'll never forget the look on his face as he dropped his head. He said "I'm sorry, her scans appear to be Leukmatic." I was in such denial that I didn't hear what he said, so I asked a 2nd time.

She then had to undergo a Bone Marrow Biopsy which confirmed the Leukemia. We spent 11 days in the hospital as she had her port placed in her chest, chemotherapy started, and steroids. Over the next 9 months, our lives were a constant battle with fevers, hospitalizations, isolation....you name it. She developed asthma and had to get tubes placed in her ears because she would develop repeat eat infections and have 103-104 fevers. Michaela has undergone spinal taps with chemotherapy to attack the brain and spinal fluid, developed chronic headaches from Methotrexate, had more labs and more pokes than anyone should ever have in their life. Michaela had an IEP last year for Hospital Home Bound. This allowed a teacher to come into our home and provide her the schooling that she needed. Now, Michaela is in 1st Grade and is having a hard time with anxiety and being around people again.

I worked 16 hours a day prior to Michaela's diagnosis. Now, I lost 30% of my income due to having to care for her, take her to appointments at a hospital that is almost 2 hours from our home. All of this while trying to remember I have 4 children at home. My other girls have had to make sacrifices that no child should have to make, in order to keep their sister safe. They don't do extra activities , go to friend's houses...etc. We just want normal again...whatever that looks like for us but it seems like we just keep getting setback after setback and I am trying so hard to see the light....only it keeps getting dimmer. It seems like there are so many resources...but when it comes to Childhood Cancer...there isn't. Childhood Cancer gets 4% of funding. FOUR PERCENT!