Eliza Cate Volousky

So this is extremely difficult to type.  This all started a few days before New Years.  Eliza Cate and I were playing in the back yard when she ran onto the back deck and took a tumble.  Her feet came out from under her and she landed on her bottom.  We thought nothing of it.  She cried for a few minutes and then was back at being a 3 year old moments later.  A few days later, she started complaining about some pain in her bottom area.  We originally tied the fall she took a few days prior to the pain she was having.  Our worst fear was that she could have potentially bruised her tailbone.  


As the days went by, the pain seemed to worsen and her mobility worsened.  She asked to be carried a lot, she started having a lot of fatigue, and wasn't acting herself.  On Monday the 6th, Cadence took her to the Pediatrician on the island and after an exam, the Pediatrician felt that we needed to head downtown to MUSC to get an Xray/further testing.  We are extremely grateful for our Pediatrician taking the extra precaution because if it wasn't for her referral downtown, this may not have gotten caught as early.  Heading downtown to MUSC, our greatest fear was the potential for a fractured tailbone and the risk of it getting infected.  After half a day drawing blood/running tests, the doctors came into our emergency room and pulled Cadence and I into the hallway.  The results from the bloodwork came back, and her levels/counts were all running low which is a red flag.  Combine all these low levels with the pain she was having in her bottom region, the doctors warned us with the potential of it being cancer.  At this point, our hearts sunk, but we still had the hope of it being some type of infection.  To test for the cancer, a bone marrow biopsy was ordered for the next day, Tuesday the 7th.  We were told to rest, but as a parent, you can't sleep when you hear the possibility of cancer in your young child.  


After a long night, the time came for the bone marrow biopsy in the afternoon of the 7th.  Eliza Cate did great with the procedure but did complain about some soreness afterwards.  That evening, we received word that the results were back, and in fact Eliza Cate did have Leukemia.  Words cannot describe the absolute gut wrenching feeling we had as parents.  So many questions, so many emotions, how could this happen to our baby girl.  How could our healthy 3 year old have Leukemia?  Thoughts of what the near and long term future had in store for us came running through my mind.  The doctors reassured, we will get through this.  This is curable.  She will fight.  And without a doubt, she is going to win.  Cadence has been an absolute rock of a mother for Eliza Cate through this whole process.  Emotionally, she has handled this better than I have.  I already knew prior to this that I had married the strongest, most loving woman on this Earth.  These past couple days have reassured me, that if Eliza Cate has any part of Cadence's DNA, Leukemia does not stand a fighting chance.