In October 2007, Jazara hurt her foot on the swings at preschool. The doctor said that it was a small sprain and that she would be fine. A month later, she was still not walking comfortably on her foot, so we were referred to see a specialist in the orthopedic department at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta. They found that she had fractured her growth plate and decided to put her in a walking cast for 4 – 6 weeks. Even after 6 weeks, Jazara still was unable to walk on her foot. It had gotten to the point were she had to be carried everywhere. Dr. Devito, her orthopedic surgeon, could not find any reason for Jazara’s inability to walk, so he requested blood work be done, twice. When the blood work came back her numbers were off the charts, so Dr. Devito and Jazara’s pediatrician decided that an MRI needed to be performed to diagnose her condition.

On December 14, 2007, we went to Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta at Scottish Rite to have Jazara’s MRI performed. As we were preparing to leave after her procedure, Dr. Adisa and Dr. Rapkin came in to talk to us. They said that there were abnormalities in her MRI and it looked like she had leukemia. We were admitted to the Aflac Cancer Center inpatient unit immediately to begin chemotherapy and spent 7 days there. While we were there, we met several members of the Aflac Cancer Center team. Everyone was very caring and helpful. By the time we left a week later, it had been confirmed that Jazara had Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL). She was four years old.

After induction chemo, it was determined that Jazara is a slow responder, which means she will receive the most intensive chemo treatment. She usually has appointments on a weekly basis to receive her treatments. She is currently in her fourth phase of seven treatment phases. Hopefully, she will go into the maintenance phase of treatment by December of this year.

Jazara has been fortunate to be a patient at the Aflac Cancer Center. She actually enjoys going to her weekly appointments. She loves to talk to Dr. Adisa, her favorite doctor, and Nurses Liz and Heather, her sedation nurses. Her Child Life Specialist, Karen, always brings her the perfect activities to do while she is there. We have even had to go out and buy some of the paints that Karen lets Jazara use for the weeks that she does not have an appointment.

Everyone at the Aflac Cancer Center has been great. Jazara, or Princess Jazara as she is known by her friends, is a very outgoing, independent and vocal girl. She loves to be the center of attention especially if a camera is near. Jazara has a tendency to boss everyone in the Aflac Cancer Center around but they are able to laugh and enjoy her dominating personality. I think they even look forward to her appointments, because who knows what Jazara will say or do each week. The Aflac Cancer Center has made this experience very manageable. We would not be making it through this without them.