Skyla was a sweet, goofy, spunky 5 year old little girl when she was diagnosed with cancer. She was diagnosed with Pre B Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia on Thursday, March 7th, 2013. She has two older sisters, Malayna and Maycee, and a younger brother Isaiah. Skyla had a fever for 4 days. Her temperature went from 103-105 at the highest. No flu or cold symptoms only a fever. After the weekend Shannon
brought her into her doctor and he checked her out and said everything was clear, like her ears, throat, and lungs. He said that it was probably something viral that will run its course. He brother also had the same fever at the same time, but with no high temperature. He had blood work done at the visit because he was so lethargic looking. So we left that day thinking this was a nasty fever and that it would go away. For the next two weeks Isaiah got better and her fever went away. However, she became very pale and her energy was not there like it was before. After numerous people became concerned about her skin color and lack of energy, We brought her in on Tuesday, March 5th, 2013 for blood work. Her Hemoglobin level and white blood cell count and platelet count along with some other counts were all low. Her doctor immediately sent me to our hospital here in SC, saying she was severely anemic. Wednesday, they gave her two blood transfusions and Thursday they did a bone marrow biopsy. The results came back as leukemia. Skyla completed 2.5 years of treatment. And was announced Cancer Free in July of 2015! She spent the next couple of months having a lot of fun and starting the 2nd grade. Once the school year got started she was getting sick off and on. She seemed to be getting a lot of viruses. Her platelet count also started dropping. The doctors watched her and thought it was a platelet condition maybe brought on from the chemo. They ran blood tests to check if cancer was back and it was clear. We went on her Make-A-Wish trip the last week of November. It was the BEST trip we have ever been on. Skyla was tired a lot and had to be in a stroller, this caused some alarm in our minds. The doctors continued to watch her labs and in the beginning of January her platelet counts were dropping again. We set up a bone marrow biopsy with the doctors for January 13th, 2016, "just to check", the results came back as Monosomy 7 AML. A totally different type of leukemia. The doctors were surprised! He said he has never seen a child get AML 6 months after finishing treatment for ALL in his 20 years of medicine. So, we started chemo and headed to Charleston for 100 days and a bone marrow transplant. Her transplant was on March 22, 2016. At her 30 day biopsy check the cancer was still there, every biopsy after showed the cancer kept growing. We tried different chemo and medicines and nothing worked. We were faced with one of the most difficult decisions a parent should never have to make, on July 15th, 2016, we decided to bring Skyla home and let her live at home for as long as God allowed. We wanted her to be able to live a life like an 8 year old should. And she did! She got to attend school, have pool parties, ride her hover board, four wheel, dance her heart out, and so much more! We spent 14 amazing weeks at home, Skyla entered Glory and WON her battle with cancer on October 25, 2016. She is now CANCER FREE and SAFE in the ARMS of JESUS!
