Porter’s Story

Site created on August 20, 2018

Welcome to Porter’s story.  It’s mid August and Porter has had a busy summer. He made it Hershey Park, Kennywood and Hilton Head as some highlights. He was busy cheering his brother, Hudson in summer baseball.  Also, spent a lot of time outside in the yard and riding his bike.   He had a lot of bruises from all that busy “3” year old play.  He also had enough that I was very suspicious.  But, shouldn’t be anything abnormal, right!?! He is 3!  


The evening of Wednesday, August 15th, he raised his right arm after dinner and we noticed a very black looking bruise with a raised knot underneath. We asked him what he did and he said nothing. He said it didn’t hurt. The four of us went to Ohio Township to walk and bike. On Thursday the 16th ,  around lunch time I called the pediatrician. She immediately asked me about bleeding. I answered no. But I was suspicious why she asked. She said he needs to be seen today.  At his appointment, he had low hemoglobin. He went to the hospital for an urgent blood draw. We weren’t home 5 minutes when the pediatrician office called and said we needed to get to the ER at children’s.  His white blood cells, red blood cells, platelets were all low.   Mark and I’s heart sank. We were scared.  Unfortunately, this is where our AML journey begins. 


We believe that porter is one of strongest willed, determined, focused,  sweetest, happiest, funniest little boy. He is loved instantly by everyone who meets him.  He knows Jesus loves him. He will fight this battle and WIN. He has his own fight song. While he pounds his chest, Porter can do it, I am a fighter, I am strong, I am brave, Jesus loves me, Porter Power! 



Thank you for visiting.

Newest Update

Journal entry by Holly Harmon

Porter had perfect 5 year old boy bloodwork again on 12/27! Dr Cooper reminds us every time we are there, the further out we get from treatment the better we are to keep the “bad guys” away forever! To think that January 13th, his date of his last day of treatment is fast approaching, makes me cry the happiest tears! The uncertainty of a year ago and where we sit today is quite simply a beautiful story to tell. I believe deep in my heart this is because of the BEST team of Porter Power prayer warriors. The positivity that kept us going from from all of you with meals to notes to bible verses to songs is literally what pulled us through our journey. This allowed us to project it all into Porter as he battled. He is by far still, the strongest and bravest person I know. I sometimes watch him and think to myself, the things he has accomplished at such a young age and he has no idea.  Part of the journey that is still with us from all of you include: hand knitted prayer shawls and blankets on his bed every night, prayer cloths in his pillow case, a Porter Power sign in our yard,  a Porter Power framed sign above his bed, Porter Power capes, Porter Power tshirt (the he is slowly growing out of), and Porter Power orange bracelets are all just to name a few. Porter will be designing a wall covering with a super fun abstract like other rooms on the 9th floor. It’s a great distraction for the kids from the reality of a procedure or something they don’t like or that hurts. This design will go in the lab where he gets his finger pricked and they run his labs. Stay tuned for the final Porter Power layout! We are so happy this another way we can give back to CHP. 
We continue to take life day by day, week by week and month by month to lead us here.  Porter is going to start indoor soccer in January and has asked to take swim lessons too. He is still ready for every adventure that comes his way. He had a wonderful Christmas. Everything he would see and do revolving Christmas was magical. It was like he never saw it all before. He was a Shepard in his preschool Christmas performance singing the best songs about Jesus. Hudson and him were apart of the Christmas Eve service at our church. It was the highlight of my Christmas. Mark and I were so proud of them. It’s completely bittersweet for the holiday season to come to an end. We hope you all enjoyed your holidays too. We will go back for more bloodwork on 2/28. I thank God everyday for putting his healing hands on Porter. Prayers for Porter. #PorterPowerPGH 🙏🧡🙏🧡🙏🧡🙏🧡🙏🧡
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