A PRAYER PLEA FROM MADDIE'S PARENTS

Friends and Family- Well we hoped to have Maddie's counts back up on Monday (28 Jan), but after having her blood checked Monday morning at the clinic we found out her white blood count was low along with her ANC. Maddie is neutropenic and the High Dose Methotrexate chemo is postponed until her counts come up. Maddie had a bone marrow aspiration and the initial results showed that she was still in remission and that her marrow was still very early in it’s recovery phase. Although we were hoping her marrow was recovering on schedule we are thankful she is still in remission. We returned home after the tests and surgery on Monday, and around 10 PM Maddie spiked a fever of 101.7 deg. Maddie was rushed to the hospital by her mom and Bea. She was immediately hooked up to two different IV antibiotics. Within a few hours her fever dropped and she was still in good spirits. Throughout this whole ordeal Maddie has been smiling and playing... simply amazing strength of our little girl! This was also the same time we were tapering and phasing out 21 days of prednisone, a drug that had her constantly eating and cutting her sleep schedule drastically. We are definitely not fans of the prednisone, but it is a necessary part of her chemo. The nights have started to get a little better, allowing Maddie and her mom to get some sleep. Maddie is in the hospital now and will continue to get the antibiotics until her counts return. After the blood counts do return we will possibly be able to take Maddie home in Charlotte for a day and then we will go back to the hospital for her next round of High Dose Methotrexate. It is always scary giving her these powerful and terribly toxic drugs, but we are trying to stay strong with her and keep her on the protocol. Please keep up all the prayers, Maddie will need them to get her counts up and go into this next round of chemo. Thanks to everyone who has taken the time to add Madeline to their prayer lists and have been tracking her progress as she fights to get better.

Love, Liz, Madeline, and Brandon