Grady’s Story
Our son Grady was diagnosed with Pre-B Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia on April 6, 2020. My husband and I first noticed Grady having difficulty walking and it progressively got worse over just a few days which lead us to making an appointment with his pediatrician. This was happening while the world was shutting down due to the pandemic. There were so many unknowns! Children’s Hospital had just changed its policy with sick and well visits so we didn’t event see his pediatrician that day but it was his pediatrician that called with the dreaded news that there was something seriously wrong and Grady needed to immediately be admitted to the hospital. The first few days were a whirlwind of information, procedures and infusions. Thankfully, since it was a new diagnosis my husband and I were able to be at the hospital together with Grady while we navigated the news. Grady spent 11 nights in the hospital at initial diagnosis. Many of those days we were hunkered down in his room trying to keep a 2 year old happy and busy. We were relieved when we were finally able to come home but that meant any future appointments were 1 parent only for the forseeable future. I’ll be forever thankful for the amazing staff at Children’s Hospital that helped carry me through those appointments.
We were introduced to Angels Among us while at the hospital. We are so thankful that they were able to provide immediate financial support and relief during a time of so many unknowns. It was one less thank we needed to worry about when having to navigate a new cancer diagnosis.
Grady now is back at daycare and loves spending time with his friends. He loves anything construction and is able to tell you anything you need to know to start up a construction site. This summer he started gymnastics and continues to work on getting stronger! We are thankful to be able to enjoy all of these things with Grady and watch him grow up to be a strong, resilient little boy and not have to constantly worry about the financial burden of the treatments he’ll continue to receive for another year.
