Infinite love for Isla

09/03/2025

This amazing mama, fellow warrior mom, and friend, started a podcast and will be hosting other moms of warriors on her show this month for Childhood Cancer Awareness Month.

Up first was yours truly 💛

I’m so looking forward to hearing the stories of other local families and supporting the cause this month 🎗️

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/a-dose-of-reality-show/id1765924946?i=1000724674837

In this episode, I sit down with my friend Danielle as she shares her emotional journey after her daughter was diagnosed with Rhabdomyosarcoma, a rare childhood cancer. Her strength, raw honesty, and deep faith will move you. 💛

🎧 Listen now to hear her story of resilience, motherhood, and hope.

09/02/2025

I couldn’t have said this better if I tried.

Her fight is, and always will be, my fight 💛🎗️

09/01/2025

Today Isla woke up and first thing she said was “mama, what dayyyy is ittttt?!” I said Monday… she said “IN SEPTEMBER WE WEAR GOLD!” She chose gold sunflowers (which is also the symbol for sarcomas) for her outfit of the day. I hate that she even knows what cancer is, but I know that she’s going to make a difference advocating for herself, her friends, and all of the kids like them.

This month I will be raw, I’ll be sharing photos that will make your stomach turn, I’ll be sharing little warriors stories and more. Please don’t scroll by, please don’t ignore me, please share my posts, please share Isla’s story. We need your help to make a difference.

Below I’m going to link Isla’s Children’s Cancer Therapy Development Institute campaign to help fund Rhabdomyosarcoma and other childhood cancer research, as well as some of the organizations I’d trust my money to go to.

Isla’s CC-TDI campaign:
https://cc-tdi.kindful.com/honor-pages-2017/infinite-love-for-isla

Local organizations that help in the fight:
Cal's Angels
Project Fire Buddies
Christmas Without Cancer NFP
Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation
Pediatric Oncology Treasure Chest Foundation
The Bear Necessities
Mulliganeers
cctdi (Children’s Cancer Therapy Development Institute)
Anthony Rizzo Family Foundation
Ronald McDonald House Charities (RMHC)
Childhood Cancer Warriors
Julia's Legacy
St. Baldrick's Foundation

It is also super helpful to donate directly to a family in the fight.

Thank you so much to all of you for your continued support! Let’s give Isla the best “We go GOLD in September” she’s ever had! 💛🎗️🌻

08/31/2025

Tomorrow starts Childhood Cancer Awareness Month. I will be reliving our journey to spread awareness all month.

Please remember to wear your GOLD and share our story with us 💛

08/29/2025

As you know, Isla had scans last week. Typically results take a bit of time, but this time was much longer.

I’m not sure if I’ve ever mentioned, but I am on the Family Advisory Council for her treating hospital. Well, Monday was our monthly meeting and I had the opportunity to ask there is it was normal for MRI results to take so long. I was assured that sometimes they can, not to freak out, and they would reach out to someone to see what the hold up was. The next morning, I got a call from Isla’s primary oncologist apologizing because there was a mix up with her MRI and we should have been notified the following day (last Wednesday).

I guess the MRI tech set the MRI to adult settings and we should have had to go back to have them redone. However, the radiologist looked over the images and while he would have liked to have seen more (adult MRI’s don’t cover enough on a child) he feels that her images are stable enough to hold off redoing until November (when her next set of scans would be).

The radiologist said that while this does happen, it only happens about once a year. Go figure it. He also said that as of that morning there is a new protocol in place so that a parent never has to wait so long to find out about an error. So, while we’re all understandably upset that this happened, I trust her team fully and feel confident that waiting until November is what is best for Isla. These last scans were the roughest yet… resulting in two failed IVs and the third having to be in her ankle (she HATES that), to not getting anti-nausea meds as she normally would and getting very sick once we got home with high fevers and an ER visit, three more unsuccessful pokes, to missing her first day of first grade. My mama heart couldn’t put her through that again so soon if her doctor didn’t think it was absolutely necessary.

Please say some extra prayers that nothing was missed on these scans, that she remains cancer free, and that the effects of radiation are minimal 💛

Isla is doing fantastic in first grade, she is coming home exhausted but loving every minute. She’s even put herself down for a nap a couple of times this week!

08/21/2025

We have the best people in our corner 💛 Isla woke up this morning to a yummy surprise, got to see her bestie before dinner, and WILL BE STARTING 1ST GRADE TOMORROW!

She is feeling much better today and is currently running around with her brother. Hoping yesterday was a fluke, we will see!

08/20/2025

We are heartbroken. Isla will be missing her first day of school tomorrow, well today now.

After scans today Isla got sick, I’m talking nausea, chills, high fevers… her pediatrician felt that since she just had anesthesia that it would be best to bring her into the ER. So here we are, many hours later. Not because we had to wait, they are so wonderful here and always try to get us right into a room, but because after 3 pokes for her MRI today and 3 failed pokes here, they cannot find a vein to draw blood from. We’ve are going home without answers, but treating for dehydration and a possible bacterial infection.

I am exhausted from watching her cry in pain, she is begging for no more pokes. I asked that they not try again, we just want to rest at home.

I am angry.

Not at anyone, but at the fact that this child has already missed so much. She was so freaking excited to start first grade tomorrow. To see her friends. She will already be missing quite a few days for neuropsych testing and blood therapy coming up. I just want her to be able to be a kid. Not only sometimes, but all of the time.

I am so grateful and blessed that my girl is still with me, that we get more first days and last days of school, class parties, and snow days… but I am so tired. This cancer mama life is hard.

Tomorrow will be hard, but it will be a new day we get to have together. I will keep reminding myself of that.

Good news, chest her xray was clear and she smiled pretty 💛

08/19/2025

Tonight Isla had her 1st grade Open House! She is in class with her bestie and already LOVES her teacher and new BFF, the school nurse.

It’s a running joke in the family that Isla spends more time in the nurses office than she does in the classroom, so it was no surprise that tonight she face planted running to the school and needed to stop in the nurses office before even making it to her classroom. Only Isla would need a nurse visit before the school year has even begun!

In all seriousness though, I am so grateful and so blessed to be sending her to school in a couple of days. Too many children we know of will never get to experience these moments. I will never take a single day for granted.

Tomorrow we will be up early for Isla’s 3 month scans, please pray they come back good. I will keep you all updated with the results 💛💛

08/11/2025

🍋 A HUGE thank you to everyone who supported Isla’s 2nd Annual Lemonade Stand benefiting Project Fire Buddies!

Isla raised a whopping $5,000 and sold $1,100 in PFB Swag this year. We couldn’t be more grateful for all that this organization does for kids like Isla and so many of our PFB Friends.

A special thank you to Nicky V's Food Trucks & Catering, mobileglamsquadparties, paintedsmilesbykaren, Bounce Brigade and orland_firefighters for making the day extra fun! We honestly owe it all to you guys for bringing the crowds 💛

We can’t wait for next year and are already brainstorming fresh, fun ideas!

08/08/2025

We have been enjoying our last weeks of summer break with a beach trip, Descendants vs Zombies Worlds Collide Tour, and another Blood Therapy appointment.

We so enjoyed our vacation and can’t wait to go back. I got to surprise Isla with a mommy and Isla concert date and it was amazing! Disney never seems to disappoint when it comes to putting on a show.

Isla is doing very well, all of her labs came back great yesterday and her Ferritin (the lab that tests her iron levels for blood therapy) are trending now beautifully!

Scans are set for the 19th and school starts the 20th, so we will be soaking up these last days of break. I’m struggling more than they are with going back to school!

Please keep Isla in your prayers as we anticipate these next scans, after this she will have her 2 year post treatment scans in November and those are a BIG deal!! Her diagnosis of High-Risk Stage 4/Group 4 Embryonal Rhabdomyosarcoma has a 5-year survival rate of about 20-30%. I don’t like thinking about this, at all, but once her 2 years post treatment scans come back good (which I’m putting out there that they will!!) the risk of relapse decreases and at the 5 year mark it raises the long term survival rate to about 85%. We need to get to that 5 year mark, we need to get to the teenage years, adulthood, and old age.

At this point we are celebrating a birthday, an end of treatment anniversary each year, and everything in between! Thank you all for being on this journey with us 💛

08/01/2025

We are enjoying our summer! We just came home from the beach and the kids are already planning our next vacation ☀️👙⛱️🕶️

Isla has a few things coming up for August. Scans, blood therapy, two days of Neuro psych testing, and the first day of 1st grade!! She is so excited to start 1st grade, but she is also very nervous. She’s going to miss her kindergarten teacher and friends so much, but I’m so thankful for the experience she had in kindergarten. It was truly special and I do believe she’s made lifelong friends in that group, mommy even made some new friends!

We also have a surprise mommy and Isla date planned that I am so excited for, I think she will love it! More on that next week 😉

We hope you all are enjoying your summer too!