A year ago today I casually took Reece to the pediatrician in Pittsburgh because he had a "rash," not knowing that we would end up in the ER at Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh to find out Reece had AML... and this was the first day of a year that we will never forget.
This is one of the hardest and happiest post that I've written. Crying, going through the pictures, looking back it amazes me of what our little guy has endured in a year. There are days that I think to myself, "that didn't happen, there's no way that all happened!" And then there are days, like today, that I can remember it all like it happened yesterday. I can remember being in the ER room, laying on the bed with Reece laying on top of me, asleep, and the doctor coming in and telling us that Reece had Leukemia... all I could do was close my eyes and mouth and start crying because I didn't want to make any noise because I didn't want to wake my sleeping baby.
And now, a year later, instead of being afraid of waking that sleeping baby I beg him to sleep because he is wired with energy... all. the. time! (praise God) 😀 What a difference a year makes. Every month we go in for blood work and only twice have we had a little scare because his numbers were a little off, but both times he ended up just having a little cold. Other than that, he's a perfectly happy and healthy two-and-half-year-old boy! In the past year, Reece:
- was diagnosed with AML
- had 5 surgeries
- had multiple transfusions
- rode on his first private plane (thanks again CAT!)
- went through 4 intense rounds of chemo (not to mention, lived in the hospital for 5 months)
- BEAT CANCER
- broke his arm
- went to school for the first time
- saw Elmo Live for the first time
- loves the beach
- got potty trained
- was in his first wedding
- bought our first house as a family
- caught his first fish
While thinking about this day last year is gut-wrenchingly hard, thinking about the year brings so much happiness to us.
And to be honest, I didn't want to write this post. I didn't want to re-think and re-live all of the terrible times, I didn't want to look back on the pictures and cry, I didn't want to think about the what-ifs about the future, but I had to write it for all of the people who supported us. This is a monumental day for not only us, but everyone who has sent Reece gifts, sent us messages constantly asking about him, said prayers, and just supported us. And for that, we will never be able to thank you enough. Because of you, we have an amazing, smart, beautiful, joyous, crazy, energetic, sweet, thriving, living boy. Again, thank you all for the support and we ask that you keep him in our prayers because while the past year is gone, the future is ahead and we don't want to ever go through what we went through again.
If we've learned anything it's to never take a single day for granted. God knows how much we can take and only gives us what we can handle (which in our case he must think very highly of us 😉) Like I said before, the days may go by slow, but the years go by fast, there's not enough time in our lives to worry about the small stuff. Matthew 6:26-27 says, "Look at the birds of the air: They do not sow or reap or gather into barns-and yet your Heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his lifespan?"
("Thank you for all the prayers")
