In March 2009, John Paul turned 3 years old. We had all had the cold. John Paul's seemed to last a little longer. We took him to his annual physical exam. Our family doctor noticed that his abdomen was hard. He figured that perhaps his intestines were inflamed or infected and ordered an ultrasound. We headed straight to Texas Children's Hospital. I had been in the ER with each of our children 2 - 3 times for cold viruses, allergic reaction to baby wipes, and even our oldest was admitted at 3 months with a kidney infection.

In March 2009, John Paul turned 3 years old. We had all had the cold. John Paul's seemed to last a little longer. We took him to his annual physical exam. Our family doctor noticed that his abdomen was hard. He figured that perhaps his intestines were inflamed or infected and ordered an ultrasound. We headed straight to Texas Children's Hospital. I had been in the ER with each of our children 2 - 3 times for cold viruses, allergic reaction to baby wipes, and even our oldest was admitted at 3 months with a kidney infection. So I was expecting for them to do urine sample, blood work, and send us home. But nothing would prepare me when the doctor came in the room and told me that our son had a tumor on his kidney and he suspected it to be Wilm's Tumor, cancer.

He had the tumor removed the next morning, along with his left kidney. The oncologists at Texas Children's almost made it seem like we would just breeze through the 25 weeks of chemo & radiation. Because Wilm's is a less aggressive cancer, much easily treated than other cancers like Leukemia. All of his chemo would be outpatient. It even baffled the doctors that we had such a rough beginning, middle, and end... We were probably hospitalized half of those 6 months.

John Paul has such courage and stamina, he pulled through and finished his last chemo on October 5, 2009. We have learned from this year to cherish every second of the day, because at any moment your life can change drastically! Cherish the time you have with your children especially! They do grow up so quickly...

Hopefully John Paul's cancer story ends there with no continuation of his journey in overcoming this challenge. It is very important to raise awareness about childhood cancers, also to raise money for research and other "child life" programs that make life more comfortable for these children and easier for their families to overcome cancer and get through one of the most trying times of their lives!

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