After their daughter was diagnosed with a cancerous brain tumor at just 13 months old, one Stanardsville mother says things might have been totally different if it wasn't for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.
Oaklee is 3-years-old now and thriving. With her outgoing personality and big smile, you would never know all that she's been through in such a short time.
Oaklee's mother, Katlyn, said her daughter was 13 months old when doctors found a mass on her brain.
"Her pupil was about to blow because the mass was just so big," Katlyn said, adding that Oaklee's surgery to remove the mass lasted more than eight hours, and they later discovered it was cancerous.
When they got the call that it was cancer, Katlyn described it as a "drop-to-your-knees kind of moment."
It was an all-too-familiar diagnosis. Katlyn's mother-in-law died of brain cancer 11 years ago.
To hear that your daughter has brain cancer when we had lost my mother-in-law was devastating because we were like, 'OK, Round 2.'
Katlyn said those doctors were able to remove about 95% of the tumor and relieved the pressure on Oaklee's brain. She reached out to St. Jude to see if they could get rid of the rest.
Within two days, she got a call from a doctor at St. Jude.
"'Can you be here Monday?'" the doctor said, Katlyn recalled from that first phone conversation.
Before we even got off the phone I told him, 'OK, that's all I needed to hear. I needed to hear that you've had a good success rate and that you can do this,' while I’m looking at my 14-month-old child and just praying that whatever treatment they have is going to work.
Within two days, the family of three packed up their lives and headed to Memphis, leaving behind their home, jobs, and the rest of their family.
They would be at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital for more than 8 months while Oaklee went through chemotherapy treatments.
"In one hand, you're holding an iPad, to try to get your kid to calm down for appointments, and in the other hand, you're holding a throw-up bag because she's sick from treatment," Katlyn said when talking about how challenging their time was in the hospital.
But throughout all the challenges, Katlyn said Oaklee still had a smile on her face.
"They're not just doctors and nurses. They're much more than that, and I think that's why she loves it," Katlyn said.
Katlyn said: "They have toys to distract her when she's getting an IV to get bloodwork."
Oaklee chimed in: "And stickers!"
Katlyn said they finished her treatment in July 2020, but Oaklee still had a pea-sized spot on her brain. She said doctors think it's likely a dead tumor or scar tissue from surgery. Since Oaklee is doing so well, doctors agreed it wasn't worth another brain surgery. Katlyn added that Oaklee will always get services from St. Jude.
"She's going to be followed with [St. Jude] for the remainder of her life," Katlyn said.
With those appointments and treatments, there is one thing that this family doesn't have to worry about: medical bills.
"We would be paying medical bills for the rest of our lives. We could possibly never own a home or anything," Katlyn said.
It's sickening to think we could have had (massive medical bills and debt), but at the same time, we are so grateful and so blessed that we don't have that. And the only reason we don't have that is St. Jude.
"It's just very emotional and very touching to be a St. Jude mom or a St. Jude parent and know what could have been, but what's not, just because of St. Jude," Katlyn said.