Ciara's Childhood Cancer Story

06/01/2026

It’s scan day!
Pray she’s still NED! 🙏🏻❤️🌻

01/30/2026

Ciara’s mri did not show anything that showed signs of recurrence or of any damage that would require any surgical intervention! 🙏🏻🙌🏻 Just changes/fluid at the tendon site where she received the donor tendon graft. That area so far, has always been watched close like a hawk because that’s where her original tumor was. I’ve sent her imaging to Houston to confirm but right now she’s just being extra careful and the ice storm helped by allowing her to lay in bed for almost a week.lol Unless Houston says differently, we should be following up with an mri where she usually has her scans at Texas Childrens in June. Other than that, as long as she’s okay and things don’t get worse, we just pray whatever’s hurting or bothering her fixes itself! 🎗️

01/21/2026

Needing some prayers for Ciara today! Her knee has been hurting pretty bad and giving out when she walks the last couple of days. This was random and pretty much out of the blue. 🫤 Thankfully we were able to get an mri done at our local hospital. Those who’ve followed since day one know that I have very little confidence in our local hospital when it comes to Ciara and her leg. However, we have an ice storm coming and couldn’t get to Houston for imaging so this scan is super important. Please pray she’s not having issues because of anything cancer related! And whatever is happening, pray it’s temporary and won’t require any surgical intervention. God knows she’s had her leg cut on enough for a lifetime! 🥺 My momma heart is super worried. 🙏🏻

12/08/2025

A landmark study just published in Nature Communications finally pinpointed the exact “cell of origin” for synovial sarcoma — a rare, primitive fibroblast

10/17/2025

As of today Ciara is officially 7 years NED!! 🙌🏻🫶🏻🙏🏻

09/22/2025

Time flies by so fast yall. 🥲 Ciara turned 16 today!

08/14/2025

7 years ago I called the pathology department in Dallas where Ciara’s tumor was sent for further testing. We are in a smaller town and they can’t do the testing here. The lab told me they had faxed the report back to our local hospital. My heart stopped. I immediately went to the hospital and requested her medical records. I wasn’t waiting for the doctors to call me. It had already been 7 days of waiting for the final results and it was killing me not knowing for sure what the diagnosis was! I requested the records and stood at the window and waited. When they finally gave me the report it was in a sealed envelope. I started to open the envelope on the 2nd floor (where records is located) but I chose to wait. I didn’t want to be in an elevator when reading the report. So I clinched that envelope as tight as I could and hurried to my car. 💔 I started the car and then opened the envelope. After that moment our lives have never been the same. The panic hit me. I was now a mom whose child now had cancer. What was I supposed to do? How do I fix this? How do I make her better? I became angry. I was hurt. I was literally broken. Now to make the 3 mile drive home and tell my husband and the kids what I had just read. None of us knew the outcome. Through all the heartache and fear I can say I know Ciara was never alone going through everything she did. I protected her from a lot of the “scary stuff.” Today is a date she remembers but it doesn’t make her whole world stop like it does mine. I’m thankful that she has been able to move on with her life. Cancer is a part of her past she says. She doesn’t live every single day letting her diagnosis dictate her life. She’s thriving as a Sophomore in high school. Her leg is doing great. She has some hiccups with her leg occasionally but that’s to be expected. I honestly could not have asked for a better outcome. So a huge thank you to everyone who prayed, continues praying and who’s stuck with us throughout Ciara’s journey. 🩷

07/03/2025

11/12/2024

Radiologist called and there has NOT been any growth or change to the lesions found from her June mri. 5 months in between scans and no changes!🙌🏼 He is not recommending biopsy.

We will continue to monitor at home for any symptoms, pains or changes. We will be repeating her mri in 7 months which will be exactly a year since the lesions were first found and go from there.

Generally speaking when synovial sarcoma comes back, it typically comes back within the first 3 years. Ciara is on year 6. Ciara’s tumor also had different pathology than most of these tumors. Her’s was much slower growing than the typical synovial sarcoma tumor however it was still considered a high grade tumor.

She will continue to have annual scans of her leg and chest unless something else changes in her June scans. Let’s keep praying that everything is stable and looks great on those scans!