Known to her family as “Busy Lizzie,” 3 1/2 year old Elizabeth was diagnosed in December of 2017 with Very High Risk B-Cell ALL. Her mom Katie says, “she just loves to play ALL THE TIME. When we are at the hospital the nurses know they will never find us in our room–we are always at the play room, the art room, the Ronald McDonald room, the healing garden, or riding some sort of vehicle in the halls. The limited time we are in the room we are having a tea party, doing play-doh, setting up a pretend grocery store–always something.”
Elizabeth loves ballet, soccer, tea parties, building with blocks, playing with baby dolls, play-doh, water table play, playing pretend kitchen/grocery store, playing on playgrounds (especially swings and slides), church, Jesus, her big brother Christopher, both sets of grandparents, her cousin Angel, the art room and play rooms at the hospital, going for wagon rides, Peppa Pig, Mickey and Minnie Mouse, Disney World.
Katie said, “No parent wants their child to have cancer, and if I could take this away I absolutely would. But we have experienced many beautiful things along the way as well. When we are at the hospital, there are ALWAYS events being put on by non-profit groups. It is so uplifting to see so many people working to help children they don’t even know. We have also realized how very deeply blessed we are by our family and friends, who have supported us with childcare, meals, visits, prayers, and just being there. We realize not everyone has the amount of help and resources we do, and we are even more grateful for these things now than we were before. We have also found our faith to grow stronger throughout this journey. Often that is not the case, as it is very easy to question where God is during something like this. But I know I personally have been relieved and astounded to find that in every need and at every turn God has been there providing, comforting, and giving a peace and joy that just shouldn’t be possible otherwise.”
Jessie’s NEGU, or Never Ever Give Up motto is a big inspiration at their home, “What it means to us, as we have seen through Elizabeth, is to Never, Ever Give Up being joyful. There are going to be hard, painful times in life, with or without cancer. It is very tempting during the hard times to hunker down, draw into yourself, and just wait for things to get better. But you can miss out on a lot of happiness that way.” Her mom says, “I feel this so strongly when I look back at my pictures from the past nine months I see pictures of the hard days, of surgeries and feeding tubes and fevers. But I see SO MANY MORE pictures of playgrounds, family, and fun times. When I look back at these pictures I smile instead of crying, and I am so grateful that Elizabeth and all of us held onto joy and gratitude during this time.”
Elizabeth loves packing and unpacking things, so when a JoyJar arrived in the mail, she was thrilled for two reasons – One, there are lots of little things in the JoyJar. She certainly enjoys getting a big new toy like any kid, but she LOVED unpacking and investigating all the little items individually. The “receiving” of the JoyJar was not a quick process. 🙂 She soaked it up! Second, she loves the jar itself, because again it is great for packing. She definitely uses many of the items from the jar, but the jar itself serves as a grocery container, a house, a blender, and so much more. We love seeing the creative ways Courageous Kids use their JoyJars!
Getting a blood pressure reading is often one of Elizabeth’s hardest hospital tasks because Elizabeth hates to hold her hand still for even a minute. This love of play has helped both Elizabeth and her caregivers tremendously. She may have a lumbar puncture and three types of chemo in the morning, but in the afternoon she is right back to playing! Whether they are at home or at the hospital, the focus is on having fun and being happy rather than being sad or scared about cancer. There are definitely hard moments for all of her family, but Elizabeth’s resilience and playful spirit are truly amazing and very inspiring!
She and her family utlize the iNEGU app regularly, her mom says, “Elizabeth likes Mr. Moe the best. I like the boosts of prayer and support I have found it to be so powerful and encouraging to have someone else pray with us and for us, even through a video.”
WE NEGU FOR YOU BUSY LIZZIE!
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