Texas City pre-teen prepares for a fight
Patient's Name: Rhianna L.
Parent's Name: Patricia V.
Home Town: Texas City, TX
Current Age: 12
Date of Diagnosis: July 14, 2018 (10 years old)
Diagnosis: Leukemia
How did you find out Rhianna had cancer?
I got a call on my birthday. Her mom was saying she wasn’t eating, she was vomiting a lot. She was also very lethargic. In the morning, we brought her to the hospital, they did some bloodwork and found it right away. All of us were there, both her grandmoms, her mom, her siblings.
How did you react to the news?I don’t get emotional, in general. And I was afraid to cry in front of Rhianna. She needed me to be strong. Also, my daughter, Rhianna’s mom, was scared and really emotional. I told Rhianna myself. It was very hard. She was scared, but I explained it, and she understood. We cried for a little bit.
It was really hard to tell the family. We told everyone in a group. We’re used to being together as a family. That’s all we do. She has two siblings and three step-siblings. She is especially close to her sister Selena. Selena was 12 when Rhianna got diagnosed at 10. She has taken it really hard. She just wants to be with Rhianna all the time.
How did the treatments go?She really went through it all pretty well. She had a blood clot in her arm, a couple fevers, but for the most part, she handled it really well. The worst moment was when she had a blood clot in her arm, near her PIC line. She almost lost her arm, she was in so much pain. But luckily they did an ultrasound and found it.
At first it seemed like she was done with the chemo, that it had worked, but then they found something in her system. It really hurt her spirits, to be honest. She had just been told that she was going to go back to school, and then, a week later, she found out the cancer wasn’t gone. We are in the hospital now because we have to go through this all over again. She is going to have a bone marrow transplant this time. It’s scarier now than when we first found out.
I’m so sorry. How are Rhianna’s spirits these days?
Well, she’s exhausted. She’s been going through this nonstop since July 14, 2018. She cried and cried and cried and cried when she found out the cancer was not gone. She’s got her days, sometimes she seems okay, but other days, usually when she’s got to take her medicine, that’s when it really starts.
But she really loves it here on the 9th floor. It’s her favorite. She likes the volunteers. They’re great with her. If it wasn’t for them, she probably wouldn’t get up. I try to get her up to do something, and she won’t go, but when the volunteers come around, she pops up and goes to the 16th floor with them. Or at least to the playroom on the 9th floor where she can meet some other kids.
And what about you? How are you taking it?Well, I’m scared, for sure, but I’m hopeful the transplant will work. I just want her to be her normal self again. She used to love swimming a lot and watching movies with her family. We’ve had some really great moments in this hospital room – just hanging out, talking, playing – me and her and her other grandma. We’re here with her 24/7 because we can be; we don’t have work or kids or school like the rest of her family. We love to hear her sing. She used to sing in the hospital room a lot, at first. But we haven’t heard her do that in a while. We’re all ready to get the transplant and put this behind us.
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