Kenzie

Diagnosis: Wilms Tumor

Once upon a time..... That is how most of our night time routines started. Every night my husband or I would read to our daughter before bed. She was obsessed with Princess stories of good conquering over evil.

On December 13, 2011 my husband picked our 4 year old daughter Kenzie up for her night time story. For some reason that night he picked her up by her rib cage and felt a large lump. We talked to her about it and she said she forgot to tell us she swallowed a squinky toy about a week before. We decided to wait it out overnight and see if maybe she passed it along and hoping the lump would change. The next day we waited a bit and went out for a shopping trip in another town. The more time that passed the more worried we got.

I called her pediatrician to see if she could be seen that day. He had us bring her in and while in the exam room he brought in two other doctors to feel her abdomen and lump. Within minutes he gave us orders to take Kenzie over to the hospital for a CT scan. Later that night we got the call that she had what appeared to be Wilms Tumor attached to her right kidney. We tried to hold tears back in front of her so we wouldn't scare or worry her. The whole family gathered at her Nana and Papaws house to talk about what the next steps were and for the grandparents to distract her so my husband and I could go outside to let all the tears out and be ready to put our happy faces on to keep her brave and strong.

December 15 we headed to Kosair Children's Hospital in Louisville, KY to start the process of blood work, scans and talking with her oncologist and surgeon. That Friday she went in for surgery and they were successful in removing a 6 pound Wilms Tumor and her right kidney. The surgeon said that it was just barely stage two and usually with this type of cancer it is caught at stage three or four. We felt blessed that we caught this early even without any warning signs to tip us off that anything was wrong. For the next few months she underwent 28 rounds of chemotherapy and only ended up back in the hospital once for an infection.

She is now 6 years old and we just got the news that she no longer has to go through the CT scans only x-rays and ultrasounds every 6 months! She is doing so great and back in soccer playing the game with her best friends. God blessed us with a strong beautiful little girl that we know is going to do something big with her life.

Five generations of our family joined Cookies For Kids Cancer in honor of Kenzie and all the kids out there battling for their lives and for the little ones who earned their wings to soon. She came up with a lemonade stand project while she was going through her chemo to help raise money for cancer research. Her comment was "Mom, people love seeing cute kids selling lemonade!" She is making us so proud by being there with us during the bake sales to help get the awareness out there and telling her story to the people of our town.

She will be celebrating 2 years cancer free on June 15th! We thank God every day for our little miracle and can't wait to see what is in store for her future. To wrap up her journeys story I think it would be right to end with.........and she lived happily ever after. The End :)