Gracie's Story

I bet most people cannot easily tell you the worst day of their lives, at least not without having to really think about it.  That is not the case for me or any of my family.  October 13, 2022 was the worst day of our lives.

I had a bad cold in early October that I could not shake.  After a blood test on the morning of October 13, my doctor told my parents that we needed to go to Yale Children's Hospital right away.   

There were more tests and then I remember when Dr. Dan came into our room.  I can even remember the time - it was almost exactly 6pm.  That's when we found out that I had Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL).  

It is hard to explain what it feels like when you find out that you have cancer.   I can tell you that it takes your breath away.

I have a long road ahead of me but my prognosis is good.  I know that I will beat this and I can't wait to get back to living my ho-hum life!

For those of you that have never faced a cancer diagnosis, I can tell you that "ringing the bell" is a big deal.  

When I was stuck in the hospital during some very tough times, my nurses and doctors would say to me "just think, you are getting closer to ringing the bell!" or "don't worry, Gracie, one day you are going to ring the bell and forget about all of this." You see, you only get to ring the bell when you beat cancer. 

I spent 845 days in active treatment for Leukemia.  That included 85 nights in the hospital and 22 spinal taps. I missed an entire year of school.  I learned about things like liver toxicity and what a compromised immune system meant.  I had a lot of midnight trips to the emergency room.  I even took a ride to the hospital in the back of an ambulance with the sirens blaring.  I have the most amazing doctors, nurses, family and friends.  They were with me every step of the way.

Today, I rang the bell!