Lennon was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma at 8 years old. She is in remission.
What’s one thing you wish you had known in those first 48 hours?
“I wish I had known that it was okay not to have all the answers. The first 48 hours were filled with fear, questions, and information that felt impossible to process. I wish I had known that we didn’t have to figure everything out at once… that we just needed to take it one moment, one hour, and one day at a time.”
What helped you the most in those first 48 hours?
“My family and our village helped me the most. Having people around us who loved Lenny, cried with us and simply sat beside us made the unbearable feel a little less lonely. Most importantly, being able to focus on Lenny and let her be a kid (even for those few days before treatment started) gave us something to hold onto.”
What is one moment in those first 48 hours that you’ll never forget?
“I will never forget Lenny looking at my husband and me and asking, “Mommy, Daddy, do I have cancer? Am I going to die?”
Those are words no parent should ever have to hear from their 8-year-old. In that moment, our hearts broke. We held her, cried with her, and promised her that we would face it together. That moment changed everything for us.”
If you could go back, what’s one thing you’d tell yourself?
“I would tell myself to breathe. To stop trying to understand everything all at once and to trust that we would find our way through it. I would tell myself that Lenny was going to be surrounded by an incredible team of doctors, nurses, family, friends, and a community that would carry us when we needed it most.
And I would tell myself to hold onto hope. There would be hard days (more than I could imagine) but there would also be birthdays and so many beautiful moments still ahead.
Take it one day at a time. Your little kiddo is stronger than you know.”
This First 48 story was submitted by Shelley.
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