Maia’s Leukemia Journey

08/06/2026

8/5/26

Today was a productive day. Maia returned to physical therapy and had a great session with Josh. Lots of strengthening and balance training today.  She makes a point to keep Josh on his toes with her witty sense of humor. We did miss seeing Hailey. Hoping to see her back in the clinic after her next semester of school.

While Maia did her therapy, I had a chance to visit with some of my coworkers. I swear they are some of the best people on the planet. They have been constant supporters of me and our family throughout this journey and I couldn’t be more grateful.  I seriously have the best work team ever! 

After therapy we stopped by the nursing home to see Maia‘s great grandma who just moved in on Monday. Maia brought her some coloring books and markers to help her settle into her new place. They had a few giggles together, and I think both enjoyed the short visit.  we came home and Maia got in a good nap. She is looking forward to seeing some friends this weekend and says she wants to get plenty of rest before them. 



08/04/2026

08/01/2026

8/1/26

Maia is getting so much needed downtime from the constant ongoing treatment regimen. We were discharged from the hospital on 7/23/26. She was a real trooper through program’s funeral staying at the funeral home for five hours on Friday evening and then spending about four more hours the next day for the massive meal. It was hotter than Haitis, but she did not make one single complaint though we did notice she was a bit shaky in the heat. Her sister made sure she was by her side the whole time to walk her where everything needed to go. Over the past week, she has taken a lot of time to rest but also got to go out to lunch with a friend at Stella And Me café dessert at Luna’s. She then got to swim for the first time this summer and I think it was delightful! It definitely wore her out as she slept till about 2 PM the next day, but it was good for her to just be 15. She will have a couple more weeks of recovery before starting her next round of chemo on 8/17/26. The good news is that she has not had any major nosebleeds this time so far, so that is great! 



07/23/2026

7/22/26

Maia’s numbers looked great initially and came down beautifully over the first 42 hours making us think she was going to get out at the 48 hours mark this time. But then her progress halted and her numbers went up a little at the 48 hour mark. They have continued to check her every 12 hours, but progress has been very slow, so we will be spending yet another night in the hospital and will be hoping for the best at tomorrow morning’s check. Hopefully she clears at the 84 hour mark. We both just want to go home.

Maia has had some voice and vocal range changes since starting chemo, so they had a speech therapist come in to see her. She worked on some voice exercises blowing through a straw to help with pressure regulation. It was kind of cool.

Maia has been working on glow in the dark Harry Potter puzzle to pass the time.  it makes my eyes hurt as it is just repetitive pictures of the same faces over and over again. We did have another lovely visitor to help keep our spirits up. Nitro was an absolutely beautiful dog.

07/21/2026

7/20/26 - evening

Maia I had a very busy day here at the hospital. She completed her 24 hour methotrexate infusion, OT visit, speech therapy visit, PT visit with group exercise with some friends who came to visit (hysterical!), echocardiogram, visits from our lead oncologist Dr. Ferris and nurse practitioner Brittany Richardson, a visit from Goober the therapy dog, and a drop in from the art therapist. We both got a good nap in today. She had her initial methotrexate levels drawn and they are significantly lower than she has ever been at this point previously, so I am hoping and praying we can get out of the hospital a little bit sooner this time. I think Mom may have put in a plug for Maia directly to Jesus that He make this round just a little bit easier for her.



07/20/2026

7/20/26 - morning

Maia and our family have had a very difficult week. On Tuesday 7/14/26 we took Maia in for her chemo labs. She did not make counts to start her next round of chemo. This was a blessing in disguise as my mother had been admitted to the hospital the week before and I wanted to be able to be there to take care of her. On Wednesday, 7/15/26 my mother passed into eternal rest. She has been battling ovarian cancer for over 5 1/2 years and her body was tired. She finished her journey with such faith and grace.

The staff at Children’s Hospital has been so compassionate and helped us come up with a plan to get Maia’s final treatment of this phase while allowing us time to mourn and to be able to be at the funeral later this week. They were able to get her admitted yesterday morning to start this fourth round of interim maintenance chemotherapy. We are praying that she clears the chemo more quickly this time to limit the after effects and allow her to be at the funeral without feeling yucky.

Maia’s dad knows that receiving good food is one of Maia‘s love languages, so he made a steak dinner and sent it to the hospital last night for her. She was pretty stoked although her appetite wasn’t great so she ate about half of it and put the rest in the fridge to have later.

Today would have been Mom and Dad’s 58th anniversary. Please pray for our family and especially Maia and my dad that God envelopes us in his comforting arms over the next week while we lay our sweet mother/grandmother/wife to rest.



07/11/2026

7/11/26

Maia continues to recoup at home. Her mouth and belly pain have gotten much better over the past several days and the rash is going away. Her biggest struggle now is headaches if she is up too much. We were concerned that this would be an issie since her lumbar puncture last week was extra difficult. She continues to limit her time upright and use Tylenol as needed and has been able to manage the symptoms pretty well. She just isn’t really able to leave the house for any extended period of time. We did make it out for a quick trip to Dollar General and back on Thursday because she was in dire need of icecream and cat litter…so that’s progress. She short buzzed her hair again yesterday because she said it doesn’t fall out in clumps if she keeps it really short and she feels like it is growing in thicker when she does it this way. I love her sassy bald head, so it made me smile when I got home and saw the fresh cut last night. She will have a few more days to bounce back before we go up on Tuesday for pre-chemo labs. If she makes counts, we will start the final round of her high dose methotrexate on Wednesday. If she does not make counts, we will give her another week to recover and recheck. When she finishes this round, it will end her Interim Maintenance phase of treatment. We will move onto the next phase a few weeks later. 

07/07/2026

7/7/26

Thank you all for the prayers. Maia cleared the Methotrexate to an acceptable level Sunday morning. We actually got to see our lead doctor, Dr. Ferris, as she happened to be on for rounds that morning. We typically don’t catch her on the inpatient side, so that was definitely a bright spot. The nurses de-accessed Maia’s port, did her final assessment and got us out the door. Two hours after I got her home I got a phone call and needed to go support another family member with an unexpected situation. In all of the movement, I forgot to post Maia’s great news as I haven’t been home much the last two days. She is so happy to be home with Gerald and sleeping in her own bed. Her post chemo side effects have not been terrible. Thank Jesus! We will go back up on Tuesday next week for blood test to see if her blood counts are holding enough to have her final treatment of this cycle.



07/05/2026

7/4/26

Maia didn’t quite make counts this evening to be able to go home so we are spending another night at the hospital. The good news is from our hospital room there are fireworks shows all up and down the horizon. We tried to catch the big show at the arch from the sleep lab rooms but this year apparently they shifted the position that they do the show, so it was blocked by a building.

Maia is starting to feel the side effects of this delayed clearance with some increased nausea and belly pain and just feeling gross and tired. She was only able to eat a very small amount of food today but she is still drinking quite a bit, so that’s good. A friend FaceTime called her today and may have “bullied” her into getting up and walking to the garden. Maia was very resistant but eventually gave in, and I think it was so good for her to get out of tge room and go outside. We were able to make one lap around the garden in the rumbling thunder, and then the sky opened up and it poured. It was perfect timing really as Maia isn’t supposed to be out in the sun as it can cause rashes. We came back inside and the hospital was hosting a little 4th of July carnival for the kids. Maia played a game and won a new little stuffed animal goat that actually holds around her IV pole. I call it her calming goat.

Maia and I are both more than ready to go home but we also know that it’s safer to be here until she clears the Methotrexate so that they can monitor her labs and make sure that her kidneys are still functioning normally. Fingers crossed tomorrow morning brings good news for discharge. 

James 1:12
Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him.

07/04/2026

7/4/26

Morning labs revealed those kidneys still have a lot of work to do.
GOOOOOOOO KIDNEYS!!!!!!!!!!!!!