Team Jaylie

It's been a whole month since we were in the hospital and we found out about Jaylie's tumor and then a few days later the cancer. This past month has seemed more like a bad dream, or rather a nightmare, than it has real life. I still can't believe my little princess has cancer and that we have to treat it with horrible radiation and horrible chemotherapy. We wish so badly we didn't have to put her perfect little body and mind through that. It is so scary knowing her mind and body will forever be changed from the treatments. We finally are done with decisions, its been a stressful couple weeks researching and talking with many different doctors from different cities. We decided to stay here in Austin for all of Jaylie's treatments. We feel good about it here and like all of our doctors. We thought about going to MD Anderson but with the kind of treatment she has to have, it wouldn't really help. She has to have full brain and spine radiation which is what we are really concerned about because of the late effects it can cause. We looked into a bunch of different types of radiation but they don't really work in her case with the full brain and spine. She will have effects from it no matter what kind of radiation she gets. Our biggest concern going into this is the late effects from it that could occur. We are praying to Heavenly Father that these effects wont occur in Jaylie's case, we are hopeful that she will have the best outcome possible with the least side effects and late effects. The ones that occur the most are a drop in IQ by 10 points or more, short term memory loss (she will probably struggle in school), pituitary gland issues (which controls hormones), hearing loss, and thyroid issues. She will be a couple inches shorter than she would have been too and there is a chance of scoliosis. We hate having to put her through this toxic radiation when her mind is so sharp right now and her body is working fine it seems. You would never know she has cancer, she is right back to her same self. We wish we could just not do anything and just have faith that it wouldn't come back, but our oncologist said it's so aggressive that she is 100% sure it would come back and come back strong. So our only option is to do the treatment and hit it hard with radiation and chemo. Dr.Harrod, our oncologist, said there's about a 60% chance she will be cancer free in 5 years. We have faith that Jaylie will be in that 60% and she will beat it. She is so strong. It's so scary thinking about the future but we are trying to have faith and know that Heavenly Father has a plan and there is purpose in everything. We don't understand it now, but someday we will know why this had to happen.

We have been enjoying fun family time before she starts treatment on Tuesday. We went on a little get away this weekend, it was awesome! I will write more about it later. A huge thank you to Jess, Bryan, and Chris for making this weekend happen. Y'all are amazing and we can not thank you enough!!

Again, thank you for all the prayers in Jaylie's behalf. We ask that you continue to pray for her, that her radiation treatments will go smoothly and that she will have the least effects as possible. Thank you!