What it means to fight Leukemia
Although most of our families hail from Illinois and Iowa, Compass to Care has touched the lives of children from all over the country. Recently, we sat down with Amber, mother of Griffin. Griffin receives treatment several times a month at Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center to fight Leukemia. With your help, his family has been able to afford the costs of gas, parking, lodging, and more to get all the care he needs. Amber shared a bit of her experience of their cancer journey below, to provide some insight into the life of a childhood cancer patient.
How old is Griffin?
Griffin Jones is 3yrs old, and he was diagnosed with Ph+ALL Leukemia on July 4, 2020.
What is your favorite thing about Griffin’s personality?
Our favorite thing about Griff’s personality is his ability to laugh & his strength & courage with everything he’s going through! This past month you wouldn’t even know he was sick the way he was running around and jumping like his old self!!!
How did you find out Griffin had cancer?
On Tuesday June 30th Griffin spiked a high fever. He wouldn’t eat much and just laid around. He continued to get worse, and by Wednesday evening he couldn’t walk or sit up. He screamed and cried in pain if we tried to hug him or pick him up. We knew something was wrong. The local ER tested him for Covid and sent him home to quarantine.
By Friday night we decided we couldn’t wait anymore. We new something wasn’t right, and that he didn’t have Covid. We didn’t know what was wrong, but determined to find out we drove him to Deaconess Gateway Hospital in Evansville, IN. We demanded blood, urine, and other tests, because we needed to determine what was wrong. Shortly afterwards, the tests came back the doctor told me our son had leukemia. We were then transferred by ambulance to Riley’s Children’s hospital in Indianapolis, IN.
What is the hardest part about traveling to treatment?
The hardest thing with traveling for treatment is being separated from our family. Another challenging thing is the toll the car ride takes on Griffin after treatments and procedures. Covid-19 has made everything extremely difficult. Usually, our whole family could stay local at RMH to be close together. Siblings and both parents, family members usually could visit before Covid.
Now, only two designated visitors are allowed for the entire hospital stay and only one person at a time. Covid has shut down play areas, visiting, and just made their diagnosis harder in my opinion. These kids fighting cancer and for their life need happiness, support, some fun. Covid has taken it all away! They can’t even visit with other children on the floor.
Has Compass to Care had an impact on your treatment journey?
Compass to Care has been a TREMENDOUS blessing to our family!!! If it weren’t for y’all …I don’t know how we’d have afforded the hotel stays for early appointments and procedures or, the gas driving back and forth to hospital for care and treatments!!
What would you say to our donors, if you had the chance?
If given the opportunity, we’d say, “God bless you and THANK YOU SO INCREDIBLY MUCH FROM THE BOTTOM OF OUR HEARTS!! We can NEVER thank you enough and you have NO idea the impact you have on our families lives!!!” The donors have made a tremendous impact on our lives, saving us stress, anxiety & allowing us to focus on our son & his care!!!!
Thank you, Amber, for sharing your story with the Compass to Care community! To help more kids like Griffin, donate today!