Isabella, 8 (Anchorage, AK) | Cancer

ISABELLA, 8 (Anchorage, AK) | Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia

written by her mother, Erika 

photographed by Autumn Clarkson Photography 

In the fall of 2013, Isabella was a new Kindergarten student at Rilke Schule. She loved going to school every day, but she kept getting sick and having to stay home. Her fevers first came every few weeks and then progressed to every few days. Multiple trips to the hospital gave no answers. I desperately wanted to know what was wrong and figure out how I could help my daughter.

Test after test could not identify what was causing Isabella’s fevers. All of the blood tests came back clean. I finally elected to have a bone marrow test, which gave us an answer we desperately needed, but every parent dreads hearing. Isabella was diagnosed with pre-B cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia on February 21, 2014 and would need to begin treatment right away.

Because English is not my first language, I didn’t understand what this diagnosis meant at first. I didn’t know it was cancer. I thought my daughter was going to die. When they explained it was cancer, I was heartbroken. How do you tell your six-year-old that she has cancer?

The doctors told me that we needed to tell her, because she was going to be the one going through all of the procedures and treatments. And she would need to know why it was happening, and why they were doing these things to her. I remember walking into her room to speak with her about it. She was lying in her bed, curled up like a baby. She asked me “am I going to die, mommy?”

I told her that she wouldn’t die, but that she had a hard road of treatment ahead of her. And that she would probably lose her hair.

Isabella is a little princess, and in our culture, long hair is considered very beautiful. She had always had very long hair, and I would only cut her bangs. She was “beautiful princess Isabella, with the long hair and bangs”…everybody knew her that way. All of us girls had long hair...myself, and her two little sisters. So the idea of losing her hair was very heartbreaking.

We initially planned to travel to Portland for Isabella’s treatment, thinking the best care would be found at a larger hospital outside. But after much deliberation, we decided to have Isabella’s treatment at Providence’s Cancer Center in Anchorage. We knew that the love and support Isabella would receive from her family was a crucial part of her treatment and she just couldn’t get that anywhere outside of Alaska. Medicine does a lot, but family and friends are a sort of medicine too.

Isabella started her treatment right away. She had a long journey ahead of her as chemotherapy for children with ALL is a 2.5-year process. A team of doctors, nurses, and child life specialists all worked together to ensure Isabella was given the best family-centered care possible. We were very happy that we chose to stay in Alaska for her treatment.

It was so hard to watch her go through it all. The chemo made her so tired and weak. There were a few times that it was so hard on her little body, she told me that she would rather die than to continue going through the treatment. But she was so strong. She went to school throughout it all. We had a plan in place with her teachers – if she got too tired or worn out, I would just come pick her up. But she always wanted to give 150% percent. She would sometimes just take a little nap in a chair and then be ready to get back to work…she rarely wanted to have me bring her home to rest.

She did lose her hair, and it was very hard for her. All of her friends and family chipped in to try to buy her the perfect wig. Finding a specific style of wig for a child can get very expensive – it can be thousands of dollars. But she was a princess, and we wanted her to have her beautiful hair back. We did finally get a wig for her, but she can’t wear it all the time because her scalp is so sensitive. She loves the way it makes her feel to see herself with hair again, but most of the time she wears a soft beanie. Her hair is starting to grow back in patches, but it is growing!

Isabella responded to treatment very well, and went into remission during the second month of chemotherapy. Her bone marrow results in May of 2016 showed that she was cancer-free. Her IV port was removed in June. She stills visits the Cancer Center once a month to receive chemotherapy infusions that are very hard on her body, but her spirits are very high. It’s amazing how children can bounce back. She would be crying and in pain one minute, then an hour or two later would be up and smiling.

Isabella has told me that she is so happy that this happened to her and not to her little sisters. Her love for them and her strength amaze me. She truly is a little warrior. Going through all of this with her has been so hard for our family, but I don’t think I would change anything. You never want your child to be sick…I wouldn’t ever wish for that. But through watching her fight and overcome everything she has at such a young age, it has showed me the things that are truly important in life. I slow down and appreciate the blessings in my life now…the things that really matter. God was definitely by our side; divine beings were holding us up.