Jensen Strong - Crushing Leukemia

04/13/2026

Sorry, I haven’t really given any updates. Jensen is just doing so good with the Blina backpack! He never ran any fever or had any reactions. He has truly been back to his old ways (even the bad ways). 😂 he has started back in Speech Therapy and has been going to physical therapy. We stay completely busy. Mom has therapy every other Monday. Jensen goes to New Orleans every Tuesday and Friday, physical therapy on Wednesdays, and we are moving speech from Thursdays to Wednesdays so we can have a rest day, hopefully!  I can’t put into words how amazing it has been to see Jensen playing and having a good time for a whole month! It has been wonderful. I was sitting here updating our calendar that I use to keep up with his medications, refills, and his many many appointments, as well as the other kids’ events going on. And it hit me that we finish Blina next Friday. Now I’m sitting here in tears because I don’t wanna start back chemo. 😢💔 it’s just not fair. Children should have something like Blina the whole time. I don’t understand why research hasn’t progressed more and why kids are still being pumped full of this poison that was originally meant for adults. Soon we will start back on all of these chemo meds and have to deal with alopecia, mouth sores, nausea, and all the things we’ve despised this whole journey. He is essentially going through the very first terrible phase all over again because we’re now in the time frame where relapse is most likely. It sucks completely to watch your child go through this, but it is pure torture to see them go through it, recover, and then go through it again. Pure torture!!!!

Keep praying please. God is listening!

04/03/2026

We need at least 40 people signed up to donate. Please consider donating. Jensen has already received over 40 transfusions & will need more in the coming days and months. 🙏🏻

04/03/2026

Our boy is live on big screens everywhere between Columbus Circle and Times Square in NYC. We’re so greatful to the The Andrew McDonough B+ Foundation for allowing him to be a B+ hero and to help bring awareness to Childhood Cancer. It’s incredibly fulfilling to finally see something meaningful come from this terrible diagnosis. If Jensen’s diagnosis can bring more attention and funding for childhood cancer research and other families suffering from this nightmare then it becomes easier to understand God’s plan. We’re also thankful to ADL Photography for generously capturing these amazing photos of Jensen. Her photographs of our precious boy were so great that someone felt they needed to be seen all over the Big Apple.

03/27/2026

Jensen did meet counts! 🙌🏻 He had his spinal this morning but no results on it yet. We are in a room resting. He will start Blina in the morning and stay until Tuesday. 🧡🎗️

03/26/2026

03/26/2026

I want to give a huge thank you to the Rally For Reid Foundation. They sent us on a much needed family date today. For the first time in a long time, I got to spend time with all four of my kids at the Audubon zoo, the aquarium, and the insectarium. Thankfully, it was a gorgeous day today. We aren’t going to mind spending 28 days at home while on Blina therapy because we made enough memories and had enough fun to last us for this month. It felt amazing to do something normal as a family again. For a whole entire day and for the first time in several months, everything felt normal. I am so beyond grateful for foundations like this one who make sure that the families are taken care of not just financially but also emotionally. I didn’t realize how bad we needed this until now. I am excited to be able to give back to families once we are on the other side of things.  Keep Jensen in your prayers. We go back in the morning to see if he meets counts. He should definitely make counts since we’ve taken a week off. If he does, pray for his spinal tap and his next few days that we spend in the hospital. Pray he has no reactions to the Blina and he’s able to go home with the Blina backpack.

03/19/2026

Once again, we did not meet counts. His ANC went down more. They’re giving him another week to give his body time to recover. Pray he’s able to recover enough by next Thursday to begin the next phase without giving cancer an opportunity to return.

03/19/2026

We are on our way back to New Orleans. Pray our little buddy meets counts today and we’re able to get this next phase of chemo started. 🙏🏻

03/17/2026

Jensen unfortunately didn’t meet counts today. He was so close but his ANC wasn’t where it needed to be. We are set to return on Thursday and try again. Pray we meet counts this time because Doodle doesn’t like being denied food!

03/16/2026

Life has been a little busy so I apologize for no updates. Jensen has enjoyed some days at home working on his cars and all. Since finishing his last dose of methotroxate, he has started physical therapy (we love it so far!) and was referred to be fitted for braces on his legs. His physical therapist asked that we postpone his fitting because our insurance would likely not cover his braces and she may be able to use a different type of brace that she can include as part of his PT. We had an appointment at children’s this past week to see if he needed any transfusions and thankfully he did not! 🙌🏻 We return in the morning to try and begin his next phase. As long as he meets counts, he will be admitted and be put under for a spinal tap. He will receive chemo in his spinal fluid and spend the week on the new Blina therapy. If he doesn’t meet counts, we will try again on Friday. After he is admitted, They will monitor him for any reactions to the Blina. They say that fever is likely to occur and they will complete a full septic work up as usual just in case. As long as he does well this week, we will attempt to bring him home with the “Blina Backpack.” This is the alternative to staying hospitalized for 28 days straight. He will go home with a pump in a little backpack that will administer his blina 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. His port will stay accessed the entire time and If he accidentally disconnects his line, we will have to spend somewhere around 12 hours at children’s and he could possibly have days added on to his therapy. We are going to try our best and pray that never happens. We will return to children’s every Tuesday and Friday to change his needle an swap out his blina bag. We will also have physical therapy every Wednesday in between. Since we will have a little more of a consistent schedule an the doctors say Jensen will be more himself during Blina, we are also going to attempt to return to speech therapy. Jensen & Mom’s days are about to stay jam packed and busy! 😮‍💨 we are so thankful for and love our prayer warriors. Please continue your praying. 🙏🏻

🧡 pray for safe travels tomorrow
🧡 pray Jensen meets counts and can proceed with his treatments.
🧡 pray for clear spinal fluid/ no cancer cells
🧡 pray for no reactions to the Blina therapy
🧡 pray we all adjust to our new busy schedule. Vast difference from either being home all day or at children’s all day!
🧡 pray these next 28 days go smoothly with no accidental disconnects.
🧡 pray for positive progress in both physical and mental health speech therapy.

03/03/2026

We are so honored to join the The Andrew McDonough B+ Foundation in their efforts to bring awareness to their foundation and it’s fight against childhood cancer. If you are in New York City in the next few months, be on the lookout for our little warrior.

Please like and follow their page. Invite your friends to like their page as well. They are making huge strides in providing financial and emotional support to families of children with cancer nationwide and they also supply funds for critical, cutting-edge childhood cancer research. All of this in memory of their precious son who lost his life to Leukemia. 🧡🎗️

03/01/2026

We were surprisingly discharged today! My boy cleared the methotrexate from his system in record time! This mama had to change a lot of diapers to help but it was worth it! We’re finally home and settling in. We’re not completely done with this phase yet. He still has to take his 6MP chemo pills at home this week. We will return to the doctor on March ninth. Our next phase will be blina 1 therapy. We’re hoping to take advantage of the new Blina backpack that will allow us to go to clinic twice a week to change out the pump and bag instead of staying in patient 29 days straight. 😮‍💨 He will have to have a spinal tap and be admitted for the first five days of his therapy to make sure he’s handling it. I’m sure we will learn more when we go back on March Ninth. Keep praying as we keep pushing through. 🙏🏻🧡🎗️