Words I never thought I'd hear. Honestly, words I never even considered, not for me. Not for my family. But here we are, 7.5 months into the pediatric cancer world. If you don't follow me on socials, this may be shocking for you. My sweet baby boy, who I proudly breastfed for 18 months, was diagnosed with a rare pediatric cancer in Sept 2022, shortly after my "life update post". While it has been an unexpected turn in our lives, his diagnosis is something we are all coming to terms with.
When we first learned that RJ had a cancerous tumor in his right cheek of his face and would need to undergo 66 weeks of chemo, I assumed he would be weak and sleeping on the couch--- a shell of his former. However, by Gods grace, he is the exact opposite. I often tell people "hes his normal self, just 300x more spoiled". And when I say spoiled, I MEAN it. But, hes healthy, CANCER FREE and thriving, so Ill deal with it, while also working to undo 7.5 months of spoiling lol.
Anyways here are a few things I've learned in the last 7.5 months:
Our lives are not in our hands, they are in the hands of the Lord. I remember during the early days of diagnosis, it hit me hard that there was absolutely nothing I could do to get us out of this situation. There was no money I could pay, no manager I could talk to, no bargaining. My baby boy would have to fight for his life and I would be there to support him. The support part was hard, but the more I leaned into a relationship with the Lord, the easier it has become.(Psalms 16:5)
Family matters. We could not have made it through the hardest season of our lives without our family. Everyone has had to step in and help us out in so many different ways. We are truly blessed. I could write at least 10 pages explaining the different roles everyone in our family has had to play over the last 7.5 months. I am forever indebted.
Community matters. When things really got tough, we had so many people reach out to help. People sent food on chemo days, care packages, gift cards, we really got taken care of it. The first 90 days of anything can be tough, but the community we have built both online and in real life really helped to make things a bit easier. We cannot thank you all enough.
Ive for sure learned more than these 3 things, but ill continue to share as time passes. For now, I just want to say a big THANK YOU to our family, friends and everyone who has lent a helping hand in this crazy season we are in. Thank you for the prayers, we know God has the power to heal RJ and has already completed a miracle in real time.