Princess J's Wish Trip!

[ajjwmaw]

We are so excited to start planning our trip to WDW. At this point we don't have dates, but we are hoping to travel within the next few months.

I'm Julie, a part time stay at home mom, and part time engineer and full time momcologist.

My husband Aaron (sometimes also referred to as AC) is an amazing husband and father.

Wes is our little WildMan. He is five months old as of this initial post and a perfect new addition to our family. He loves people and attention and spends a lot of time smiling and laughing. Hopefully his enthusiasm will continue and he will have a blast on our trip!

Jenna, little miss Princess J and our Wish Kid is four. She is my hero and the bravest person that I know. She was diagnosed with leukemia (ALL) at 2.5. I will make another post with more details about her story. She is so brave and so inspirational. She's taught us so much about love and life. She's in remission and will be undergoing chemotherapy treatment until February 2014.

We originally planned to let Jenna make her Wish after her treatment ended. But, around the time she turned four, she started begging every.single.day to go to Disney World. So, we decided to go for it. At the same time, we decided that we would prefer to go to while WildMan is not mobile. So, Jenna's social worker sent in the paperwork to MAW and we quickly received a call and a visit. I'll go into details later about the first visit - we loved the Wish Granters and had so much fun hearing Jenna's answers to their questions and hearing her make her Wish.

Right now we are waiting to hear back about dates. We plan to take an additional week so we can go slow and take a lot of rest and relaxation.

 

[ajjwmaw]

 

[ajjwmaw]

In the summer of 2011 Jenna was 2.5 years old. We noticed that she had a lot of bruises on her shins, but after a bit of research, I decided they were from being a busy two year old. About a month after the bruises appeared, we noticed that she had a yellowish tone to her skin and puffy eyes. We thought that maybe she was anemic and decided to take her to the doctor for labs on my next day off. That was a Friday, the next day off was Wednesday. On Sunday night, she spiked a fever and refused to walk, so I decided to take her to the pediatrician in the morning. As I was putting her to bed, I noticed a small red rash on her skin that I remembered seeing when I first researched the bruises. It was a sign of leukemia. I researched again that night and she had so many symptoms of leukemia that I knew that she was very sick.

I can vividly remember standing across from the kitchen island that night talking to my husband, both of with tears in our eyes. It was so unfair to think about such an innocent child having to face such a terrible battle.

We got to the pediatrician about 15 minutes after their walk-in hours started the next morning. There were 3 or 4 families waiting, but they rushed us to a room. The doctor was in the room before the nurse was finished. They did an immediate CBC and confirmed that her blood was saturated with white blood cells. Her spleen and lymph nodes were swollen. They called the local children's hospital and had us wait in the room until the hospital had a room for us. The pediatrician's office was amazing. Nurses and staff took turns coming in to the room to keep me calm and to keep Jenna from knowing that I was upset.

My husband met us at the hospital. The oncology floor was full, so we went to the clinic where they did a more thorough blood lab and confirmed that she had leukemia. A bone marrow biopsy the next day confirmed and she started chemo. She was in remission within the month. Her specific leukemia is considered low-risk. This means a higher survival rate and slightly less intensive treatment. Still, the treatment is relentless and so tough on her little body.

She has been such a trooper. She never complains about taking medicine. She used to be terrified of having her port accessed (typically I don't mind needles, but I don't blame her!), but she puts on a brave face and never cries about it. I could go on and on about her bravery.

I never thought that I would learn so much from my child. She is such an inspiration. She is exceptionally intelligent, a great leader, and a lot of fun. As you can tell, I'm quite the proud mom!

Here's a picture of her during the intense treatment during the first few months after her diagnosis:

 

[JWCJ]

Glad to hear Jenna gets her wish! I have a 4 year old low-risk ALL princess, too. These kids really are amazing, aren't they?
Hope everything moves quickly for you and you get dates soon!

 

[girangel]

Sorry Jenna and your family have had to go through this. Glad Jenna gets her wish to go to Disney.

 

[Lilfoot93]

joining in!! I'm so glad that Jenna gets her wish! I hope you get your dates soon and that would be great if you can extend your trip!

Jackie

 

[Kktraylor]

She's beautiful! Can't wait to hear about her wish.


Kristy

 

[NEmel]

So glad that Jenna is getting a wish! She is a cutie! Can't wait to hear more about her magical experiences!

 

[angel's momma]

Your children are adorable. So sorry Jenna's been through so much. Yay that she's getting her wish Most of the children treated at our clinic have ALL, so we're familiar with their treatments, and what they go through.

 

[ajjwmaw]

Thanks everyone!

Jenna is getting so excited to find out our dates.

She's already asked me to start a list of things she wants to pack. A girl after my own heart!

 

[SixUnderSix]

What a sweet family you guys have. We, too, are waiting on dates

 

[angel's momma]

She's already asked me to start a list of things she wants to pack. A girl after my own heart!

 

[ajjwmaw]

We have dates! June 8-14 at GKTW! We will be extending an additional week, but we haven't planned lodging.

I am at work today, but I can't wait to get home to tell Jenna! I hope three months doesn't feel like forever to a four year old. We will have to do a countdown chain or calendar to help.

June is going to be a busy month for us! We are also attending (and participating) in the 46 Mommas Shave for the Brave in San Antonio on the 30th. So we will be home for a few days and turn right around for a road trip!

I could not be more excited!

 

[angel's momma]

Yay for dates!

So wonderful that you are participating in the shave. One of the moms from clinic is very excited to be a "Momma" too.

 

[Moodyzblu]

Hi !! I'm Michelle .. my son, Jayden got his wish last April .. I can't believe it's been almost a year !!

So glad to hear your little one is getting her wish .. you guys are in for a real treat ! Between GKTW and Disney .. it's such an amazing trip.

Looking forward to hearing more about your plans and such !

 

[ajjwmaw]

Last night Jenna told me that her list of things to pack so far is:

1. Everything in our house with Disney on it.

2. Her Stompeez

She cracks me up!

 

[angel's momma]

Too cute.

 

[JWCJ]

Ha! That sounds like reasonable packing to me, lol!

 

[Mom2M07]

Last night Jenna told me that her list of things to pack so far is:

1. Everything in our house with Disney on it.

2. Her Stompeez

She cracks me up!

We love Stompeez here too! I'm sure we'll be bringing ours along. However, packing "everything with Disney on it" may be a tall order! So happy that you have your dates

 

[ajjwmaw]

We had a beautiful day here in KC. Jenna insisted on a walk to the park and a harvest feast (she may watch a bit too much Little Bear). So we packed a picnic, walked to the park and settled under a tree. It was so nice!

This park is across a field/creek behind our house and was the first place that I let her go when she was first diagnosed and I was terrified to let her out of the house. We have been hundreds of times, but I always think about those days when she was so sick and we would go there and our happy little girl would return to us, even if just for ten minutes.