Four-year-old Madelyn, or Maddie, is the 23rd person in the United States to be diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia with the sub-type RAM phenotype. Big words for a sweet little girl fighting a huge battle, but Maddie is resilient! She’s currently in remission following extensive chemotherapy and a bone marrow transplant – though, she and her family still have a ways to go on their childhood cancer journey.
“Madelyn has fought infections, kidney failure, a bone marrow transplant, and leukemia to be here, but she’s a sassy diva with a big personality and she’s showing all of us how to get through this life-changing event,” laughs Stephanie, Maddie’s mom. “It’s been a grueling process for a little one, and hard to watch our baby go through something so difficult, but we have an amazing support system in ASK Childhood Cancer Foundation.”
“We met the folks of ASK almost immediately,” Stephanie remembers. “They found us and explained the financial, psychological, and social support they would provide our family, and answered questions we didn’t even know we had.”
When FMLA ended for both Stephanie and her husband, they were left to face the immense financial burden of childhood cancer. ASK stepped in to pay the family’s mortgage and car payment for one month and provided gas gift cards, allowing Maddie’s family to focus on helping her get stronger.
“People don’t know what our family goes through on a daily basis. They hear that Maddie is in remission but don’t understand that she is still in treatment and this cancer diagnosis continues to interfere with our normal lives,” Stephanie explains.
“But the people at ASK that we see every day in Clinic or when Maddie is in the hospital understand us and know what we need, often before we do. Our constant support system is ASK. They never leave us." - ASK Mom Stephanie
ASK remains part of our families' lives forever because a childhood cancer diagnosis changes life forever. Our approach to providing all-around support for families like Madelyn’s goes far beyond their time in treatment; we’re there to help them keep up and transition back to school, connect them with services and resources as they grow, and offer social events to help them feel “normal” for a while with other families who understand what they’ve been through.
Maddie will continue her monthly chemo treatments until March 2024, when her parents hope she can finally ring the bell marking the end of treatment and celebrate! For now, she and her brother Riley are thriving, enjoying their new bunny, Poppy, and looking forward to swimming again in the pool next summer.
“We’re trying to move through each day and leave the memories of long hospital stays, feeding tubes and intense chemo behind us and focus on a happy future,” Stephanie shares. “It is both a blessing and a curse that this happened to Maddie at such a young age. Her physical scars will heal, but we don’t know what the treatments will do long-term. The worry is hard on our souls, but we know ASK will be with us every step of the way. I don’t know how we would make this journey without them!”
