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500 ft from electrical power substation, high tension power lines. Not far from huge distribution center, (diesel fumes). Farm fields on three sides of small development, (pesticides).
Two young siblings battle cancer at the same time
SPRINGDALE, Ark. (KNWA/KFTA) — Having two children diagnosed with cancer, at the exact same time, was something Alyssa Lewis never imagined would happen to her little family.
“At the beginning, I was really just in survival mode,” Alyssa said.
The first diagnosis came from her then 7-year-old daughter Abigail, who’d been suffering from severe back pain.The pain was getting really extreme at the end and it was like really scary to not even know what’s happening with you.
“Countless nights of being woken up several times with her screaming in pain and us having to run Epsom salt baths or low dose Tylenol, you know things to help mitigate that pain,” Alyssa said.
After going without answers for so long, pediatric doctors at Arkansas Children’s (ACH) in Little Rock finally figured out what was causing the pain.
An MRI revealed she had a mass, and in May 2018 she was diagnosed with a soft tissue cancer called Ewing’s Sarcoma.
Abigail said at the time, she didn’t even know what cancer was.
...
Abigail received much of her treatment at ACH, but was also able to be seen at Arkansas Children’s Northwest (ACNW) in Springdale for labs and blood and plasma transfusions.
During one of her stays in Little Rock, the unthinkable happened.
Kendryck Vanlaningham on his second birthday
Kendryck, Abigail’s brother who was 2 at the time, had to be hospitalized at ACNW with a severe respiratory infection.
After running some lab tests, pediatric doctors decided he would also need to be cared for at ACH.
Kendryck was admitted into the Intensive Care Unit for between four and five days and then he was moved to the Hematology and Oncology department.
“Whenever Kendryck got flown over to the Little Rock children’s hospital I was over in room 1 and he was over in room 2,” Abigail said.
It was January 2019, when Alyssa learned that not only did her little girl have cancer, but so did her little boy, who was diagnosed with leukemia...
Two young siblings battle cancer at the same time
SPRINGDALE, Ark. (KNWA/KFTA) — Having two children diagnosed with cancer, at the exact same time, was something Alyssa Lewis never imagined would happen to her little family.
“At the beginning, I was really just in survival mode,” Alyssa said.
The first diagnosis came from her then 7-year-old daughter Abigail, who’d been suffering from severe back pain.The pain was getting really extreme at the end and it was like really scary to not even know what’s happening with you.
“Countless nights of being woken up several times with her screaming in pain and us having to run Epsom salt baths or low dose Tylenol, you know things to help mitigate that pain,” Alyssa said.
After going without answers for so long, pediatric doctors at Arkansas Children’s (ACH) in Little Rock finally figured out what was causing the pain.
An MRI revealed she had a mass, and in May 2018 she was diagnosed with a soft tissue cancer called Ewing’s Sarcoma.
Abigail said at the time, she didn’t even know what cancer was.
...
Abigail received much of her treatment at ACH, but was also able to be seen at Arkansas Children’s Northwest (ACNW) in Springdale for labs and blood and plasma transfusions.
During one of her stays in Little Rock, the unthinkable happened.
Kendryck Vanlaningham on his second birthday
Kendryck, Abigail’s brother who was 2 at the time, had to be hospitalized at ACNW with a severe respiratory infection.
After running some lab tests, pediatric doctors decided he would also need to be cared for at ACH.
Kendryck was admitted into the Intensive Care Unit for between four and five days and then he was moved to the Hematology and Oncology department.
“Whenever Kendryck got flown over to the Little Rock children’s hospital I was over in room 1 and he was over in room 2,” Abigail said.
It was January 2019, when Alyssa learned that not only did her little girl have cancer, but so did her little boy, who was diagnosed with leukemia...