Fight like Atlas

09/04/2026

Last day here for now 🌸

09/03/2026

Thank you. I don’t think I will ever be able to say it enough.

Thank you to Memorial Sloan Kettering. Thank you to Ronald McDonald House. Thank you to Dr. Gerstle for saying yes to Atlas when we desperately needed someone to say yes. Thank you to every doctor, nurse and person who has loved and cared for my baby through all of this.

Thank you to Atlas’s team in Iowa for fighting alongside me. For working with insurance, sending appeal after appeal, accommodating us through the absolute chaos that became our lives and helping me get Atlas to MSK. Thank you for all the hard work you have done for Atlas and for making sure I feel supported in this.

Thank you to the flight donors at aero angel, the private pilots and every person who donated their time and resources to get Atlas where he needed to be safely. Thank you Rural Rumps Bbq, for everything you have done to help us in NYC and to help get us home.

Thank you to every single person who donated. Whether you helped pay for travel, groceries, or simply sent me enough to grab a coffee or get the kids ice cream on a horrible day, it mattered. Thank you to everyone who shared Atlas’s story, prayed for him, checked on us, sent us kind messages and continued loving my little boy from hundreds or even thousands of miles away.

I’m just a single mom of two beautiful children who has spent the last year and a half trying to do one thing: save my baby.

And somewhere in the middle of trying to save Atlas, I’ve also been trying to still be Gaia’s mom. Trying to make sure she knows she is just as loved when cancer has demanded so much of my time. Trying to figure out how to be in two places at once when my children have been 800 miles apart. Trying to hold our little family together while hospitals, surgeries, chemotherapy, insurance fights and traveling across the country became our normal.

There have been so many times I genuinely did not know how I was going to do this. I just knew giving up was never an option.

May 8th, 2025 changed our lives forever. Since then I have watched my baby go through things no child should ever have to go through. I have watched him endure round after round of chemotherapy, immunotherapy, countless hospital stays, blood transfusions and two massive surgeries. I have watched cancer take pieces of his childhood and completely turn our family’s life upside down.

But for the first time since that horrific day, I can finally see a light at the end of the tunnel. There is hope. There is potential for remission. It means everything to finally be able to say that.

We still have more fighting to do. We are not at the finish line yet. But Atlas is here. His abdominal tumor is out. And after everything that has happened, after all the times I was terrified I was going to lose him, I get to look at him and have hope for his future.

Without all of you, I genuinely do not know if we would be standing where we are today. Atlas would not have gotten the surgeries that helped save his life without an entire army of people helping me get him there.

I am one mom. I could never have done this alone. So from a mom who was simply trying to save her baby while loving both of her children through the hardest chapter of our lives, thank you.

Thank you for helping me fight for him. Thank you for helping me get him there. Thank you for loving Atlas. There just aren’t enough words. We love every single one of you. 💛

09/03/2026

Aero Angel found Atlas a flight donor for a private flight tomorrow 🙌🏻 Yay!!!

09/03/2026

DITL of Jacqueline and Atlas and Grandma in NYC! Lucky that most of NY is outside so we can get out while his counts are coming up 🎗️

09/02/2026

I want to explain why subscribing to my page would actually mean so much to me.

I’m a single mom trying to figure out how to support my family while also being torn between two children, sometimes 800 miles apart.

Atlas’s cancer doesn’t allow me to have a normal job. I can’t predict when he’ll be admitted, when we’ll have to leave the state, how long we’ll be gone or when treatment plans will change. Sometimes I’m in New York with Atlas while Gaia is back home in Iowa, and I’m trying to somehow still be a present mom to both of them while keeping our lives afloat.

That’s why I’m trying to make social media into something that can help support us.

If you choose to subscribe, even if it’s just a few dollars a month, it goes toward helping me take care of my kids while I’m doing all of this. Groceries, gas, bills, travel and just normal life that doesn’t stop because your child has cancer.

There is absolutely no pressure to subscribe. But if you’ve ever wondered how you can support our family without donating to our GoFundMe, this is one way.

It also gives me a chance to earn an income without having to choose between working and being there when my children need me. And right now, that means everything.

Support me by subscribing here: https://www.facebook.com/61577003081930/subscribenow?surface=permalink_share_goals_post_url

09/02/2026

Atlas is brave, but what choice does he have?

We call kids with cancer warriors and fighters and heroes, but they never chose this fight. Atlas didn’t choose the needles, the surgeries, the hospital stays, the chemo, the pain or any of it. He’s brave because he has been forced to be.

Childhood cancer doesn’t give children a choice. They just learn how to survive what no child should ever have to endure.

Day 2 of Childhood Cancer Awareness Month. 🎗️

09/02/2026

We have now gotten a letter of medical necessity for Aero Angel which is who has helped us in the past! Now we wait to see if they can find a flight donor. Unfortunately, atlas's immune system is still at a 0 and we cannot fly commercially. He has more labs Friday morning.

Labs today to determine if we can still plan on coming home on Friday, hopefully his levels are on the way up and his immune system can fend for itself a little more 🤞🏻

I did book a commercial flight for Friday- the harsh reality of cancer always changing and moving plans and dates, the plane tix went from 189 a person to 389. While we got a refund for the previous tix it was another $700, which is insane! I'd hoped we'd gotten lucky enough and booked weeks in advance so they were so much cheaper. Hopefully we will not have to cancel this flight. ✈️

Prayers for good labs today please and much needed improvement in Atlas's blood counts and ANC please!🎗️

09/02/2026

Labs today to determine if we can still plan on coming home on Friday, hopefully his levels are on the way up and his immune system can fend for itself a little more 🤞🏻

I did book a commercial flight for Friday- the harsh reality of cancer always changing and moving plans and dates, the plane tix went from 189 a person to 389. While we got a refund for the previous tix it was another $700, which is insane! I'd hoped we'd gotten lucky enough and booked weeks in advance so they were so much cheaper. Hopefully we will not have to cancel this flight. ✈️

Prayers for good labs today please and much needed improvement in Atlas's blood counts and ANC please!🎗️

09/02/2026

On top of this, Gaia has a cold and isn't feeling well and I'm not around to take care of her. My heart is SO sore

Today has been a good day for Atlas, but to be honest yesterday knocked me down. I miss my daughter, Atlas misses his sister.

Atlas has been eating all day today, which is so incredible. He needs to put on weight, and luckily we've found vegan ice cream that he adores!

I've been sick from stress, and haven't slept much. We've just been hanging around in the apartment and keeping Atlas safe. We have labs tomorrow to check on his counts.

Thank you to those of you that has checked in, supported, commented, offered advice or simply just prayed for us. It means the world. 🩷