Some of you reading this know some of Andrew’s story from past years of 30 Days/30 Stories or from PCFLV or the overall community in this area. But as a quick history, to bring us to today, Andrew (Squishy) was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML) right after he turned 1 year old. As everyone can understand, this was devastating news that changed our lives forever. We have written about his time in treatment and how difficult it was on him and our family, and how blessed and fortunate we are by how he responded to treatment. The team at Lehigh Valley Reilly Children’s Hospital, in conjunction with the Children’s Oncology Group, was able to treat him with a chemotherapy-only regimen and avoid a scary and risky bone marrow transplant, and he was declared to be in full remission before he turned 2 years old.

Squishy now is a rambunctious and very active 5-year-old. He started kindergarten, which was a milestone that at one time we were not sure we would see. He is extremely active and never stops moving to the point that we suspect that his chemotherapy regimen may have affected his learning, behavior, and ability to focus as well as creating a fear of being alone and giving him a few obsessive tics. Even worse are the dreadful thoughts of other complications, such as heart function, secondary cancers from treatment, or other chemotherapy-related complications. Unfortunately, these fears are never far from our minds, and any common cold can kick-start our worries. It is a reminder that the end of treatment is not the end of the journey.  In fact, it’s a lifelong journey that we will always walk, with daily reminders of the shock waves that his diagnosis sent through our lives. As much as we can, we choose to focus on today, and we are so very thankful and grateful that Andrew remains in remission.

A phrase that I have heard time and time again is how this event in our lives brought us into an exclusive group and community that nobody wants to be part of. It is very true, and while we would never have chosen this path, we are incredibly lucky to know many amazing and resilient people through this journey. We are so thankful to PCFLV and many other incredible people who have supported us with groceries, gas, tickets and a sounding board. Andrew loves Camp Smiles and the kind people at PCFLV, and we appreciate all the many events that we are invited to and can participate in.  Nothing makes it easy, but the support and love from this community truly help us and many others.

Written by Andrew’s dad, David

Please consider helping children with cancer and others in our community by scheduling a blood donation at Miller-Keystone Blood Center: https://donor.giveapint.org/donor/schedules/zip