Shannon Marsh

The strength of a child
 

Our world turned upside down on October 6th, 2017. My little girl was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. We had taken Paige to the doctor because she had several bruises on her legs that did not seem to heal. Due to Paige being hospitalized when she was 18 months, our family doctor sent her for blood work to check things out. At that point I just thought maybe she had low iron. We took her for her blood work and 26 minutes later my doctor called to say that she didn't like the looks of Paige's results and we needed to bring her in the emergency right away. That is where I sat with Paige on my lap as the doctor told me she had Leukemia. I had to call my husband and tell him. After that is was a whirlwind. They started chemo and treatment right away. She was put to sleep in the ER and had a spinal where they take spinal fluid from her spine to see if the Leukemia had spread and they ran a round of chemo in her spine as a preventative measure. We met with so many doctors and were given so much information. She was then admitted for 12 days.

The next 8 months she would have intensive treatment where she would be sick and would lose all of her hair. As we adjusted to our new "normal", we sought help from different organizations. One being the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society of Canada and I met with Jenny.

We found out about the Light the Night walk and how we could be apart of it. Learning more about the walk and all it represented was such a great thing for our family. To hear about all the research that is done and all the help that was offered to us. We wanted to join everyone else that is in to fight these blood cancers and be apart of the journey. Light the Night is special to us as we had all our family and friends come together on one day and help raise money and awareness of a great cause.

The walk for me as Paige's mom was overwhelming at first to see all those lanterns, pictures and people that were here for everyone that is either fighting this fight or has lost their fight but never forgotten. I remember having a few tears during the speeches and thinking of all the people fighting this fight together. It felt like home. We are so lucky and fortunate to have so many family and friends surround us at the walk and everyday and we are thankful that we can join the thousands of other people helping to find a cure. As of now Paige is in the maintenance phase of her treatment which is less intense and she is doing really well.

Paige has successfully finished treatment and is doing really well with all her monthly checkups. We continue to support LLSC by participating in the Beer Store bottle drive and walk in Light The Night. Our family and friends help out a lot. We just want to thank the LLSC for their continued support even though Paige is done treatment, that this is a life long journey and are happy LLSC is by our side.