Ava was diagnosed with Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T cell) February 16, 2022. She was your average 10 year old girl that loved spending time with her friends, playing kickball and dancing. After having Covid in January it seemed Ava was losing her breath doing everyday tasks, like putting her shirt on or going up the stairs in our house. 

I took her to our pediatrician who let me know Covid symptoms can last months. We were given an antibiotic “just in case” and a nebulizer to do 3x per week for 2 weeks. I did not notice any relief after about 5 days, so I took her to Nicklaus children’s urgent care.

When we were brought back her vitals were good. I kept being told “mom, she looks so good”. We did a chest X-ray and the doctor came in explaining all was good, chest looked great as well as lungs and heart. I explained something was not right. She looked pale, she wouldn’t play kickball which she loved. The doctor explained that as far as she was concerned Ava looked great but if I was concerned that I could try and get her into a pediatric pulmonologist. I left and the next day I got her into a pediatric pulmonologist highly recommended from another mom friend. He let me know “she looks great and she passed her breathing test. We may have to do a stress test but try an inhaler and I bet she will be fine by the end of the week”.

Well, she wasn’t. The next day my husband picked her up from aftercare and she was pale and complaining of a stomach ache and being tired. We took her to the ER and within an hour our nightmare became a reality. Ava had 440,000 white blood cells compared to your normal 10-15,000. My world went black and I’m pretty sure that was the last word I heard.

Ava got her port the next day and started the long journey of “front line treatment” which she finished in January. She will be in maintenance for another 2 years but it is less intense which is something we look forward to. Look forward to her getting her life back and enjoying all the things a little girl deserves!