Marett Bandy

Dear friends and family. I have created this caringbridge site in order to update you all on our journey as we beat leukemia! 
Our journey started on September 23, 2018 as we learned that our daughter, Marett, had leukemia. Shock and disbelief were the first emotions we felt after hearing this diagnosis. We then moved quickly to grief because of the unknown and the utter fear of hearing that your child has cancer.  We are now in fight mode and feel hopeful about the treatment plan and cure. 
We were admitted to Mission Hosptial in Asheville, North Carolina under the care of Dr. Krystal Bottom. She has been wonderful along with the other oncology doctor and nurses. 
Wednesday of the first week Marett went into surgery to have port placed, bone marrow sample and spinal tap performed. Also, first dose of chemo was given straight to spinal column. Leukemia cells like to congregate there and they wanted to go ahead and get treatment started. 
That evening we met with Dr. Scothorn (oncology dr) and he informed us that Marett had pre B  All (Acute Lymphoblastic leukemia). This is the most common type of childhood leukemia. We also learned that no leukemia cells were found in the spinal column, which was a huge relief! At this point she is a standard case and treatment protocols have started as we continue to stay in the hospital for a few more days. We will eagerly await the results of bone marrow study which will take up to 3 weeks. Our pray is that it comes back without any markers to change how they would approach treatment. The drs are very pleased with her labs and the leukemia has gone from almost 50 down to 5.6! Most kids go into remission quickly which means no leukemia cells would be visible in blood work. But, they know the leukemia is still in bone marrow. Cure percentages range from 80-95%. We
Will take that!!
The plan will be that marett goes home and will return to cancer clinic each week to receive her treatments. During this time she will be on homebound from school and will have a teacher come to our house to continue her school work. Her immune system will be at such a low level that she needs to stay away from germs especially during the winter months. The drs want her to live as normal a life as possible during treatments and encourage her to be active, have friends over, etc. Her teachers have already visited her and they talked about FaceTiming or Skyping her in so that she can be a part of some lessons. She is excited about that! The hope is that she returns to school in Spring but we will have to wait and see.
We appreciate all the prayers and love that have been poured on us. Such beautiful moments happen every day and we know God weaves those moments in our life to sustain us.