Charley’s Story

In August of 2021, at 6 months old, our Charley girl had been fighting constant infections for the last several weeks and just wasn’t getting any better. This led us to the ER where after several tests and scans we would learn that she had a blood cancer, specifically AML Leukemia. Within hours, we had gone from an average family to finding our new home on the children’s oncology floor, away from her comfy crib and sound machine to a dark, cold hospital room, where we would watch our baby get a central line placed and chemo.

We would later learn that Charley had a high-risk form of Leukemia with a “very poor” prognosis, which led us to a stem cell transplant for her best chance of a cure. The next 6 months were spent in and out of the hospital averaging 28-day stays while Charley underwent high-dose chemo to achieve remission before getting her stem cell transplant. Despite the 1 in 4 odds, our silver lining was finding out that her then 2-year-old brother was a 100% donor match. On January 3rd of last year, she received her lifesaving transplant. The next several months were met with many life-threatening complications – mucositis (inflammation of the GI tract with sores lining from mouth to the intestines), VOD (liver failure), GVHD (old cells attack the new donor cells), and developing severe drinking and food aversions. 

Today, Charley just turned 2 years old and if you didn’t know her story, you’d likely never guess that she’s already endured more in her little life than many do in an entire lifetime. While we are so happy she is doing well today, the side effects from the treatment were harsh. She has a high likelihood of infertility, which led us to freezing one of her ovaries. She will need to see a cardiologist yearly and still continues to get monthly blood checks to monitor her levels and ensure she remains in remission. This year, the Charley Chance Research Fund has raised $22,367.68.

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