Ivy Jo's Courageous Fight with Leukemia

Hi, my name is Danielle and I am Ivy's momma. Ivy's journey began a couple of months ago when she woke up one night in pain and when set down to walk she had a limp. Later that morning she developed a fever so her father and I took her to the ER where she tested positive for RSV and was told she was pretty constipated. A couple days later she was still not walking, we had to carry her everywhere, so we made an appt with her pediatrician. She was diagnosed with what they thought was Transient Synovitis (where the virus has settled into the joints). That could last a couple weeks, and as the weeks went by she started walking again, but not very well. It was more of a waddle. She was back to playing, but it never lasted very long before she wanted to rest. One morning we noticed she wouldn't move her head to look side to side or look up, and at first we thought maybe she slept wrong. This lasted for quite a few days so we decided to take her back to the pediatrician where they had ruled out meningitis due to no fever and that she had pretty good range of motion(when he would turn her head for her). Was told of course if she developed a fever to take her back in. Through all of this, Ivy still didn't walk right, and had little to no appetite. About a week after that appointment Ivy woke up vomiting and with a fever that morning. At this point we were really concerned something else is going on and we wanted answers. We took her to St Joe's in Ypsi where we explained what had been going on. They seemed just as concerned and wanted to do an MRI of her spine since she still had issues with her neck and the way she walks. However, with her age she would have to be sedated to get the MRI so they needed to transfer us. That is when we ended up at Toledo's Children's Hospital. Due to how late it was at this point MRI was scheduled to be done the next morning so all they could do was get her IV and bloodwork for the night and said if they found anything concerning with her bloodwork they would let us know. As her father and I were about to go to bed, all the doctors we had talked to on that floor that night walked in and that is when we knew this wasn't going to be good. That is when they broke the news to us that Ivy Jo's bloodwork was concerning for Leukemia. The worst news we could receive about our baby girl. We were and still are so devastated. The next morning we were moved to the oncology floor and everything from there happened so fast. We only had to stay a week, but in that week she had a spinal tap, 2 bone marrow biopsies, had a port placed in her chest and started chemo almost immediately. We are currently in the fight against B-Cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukeima. She has been doing well with treatments so far, and we are home as of right now, but we have to continue to travel to and from the hospital for chemo treatments and more spinal taps/bone marrow biopsies and medical bills and other expenses are going to start piling up. Right now the doctor is saying this will be about a 2.5 year treatment process. We don't normally like to ask for help and it is very hard for us to do so. We have had multiple people ask how they can help or how to donate and this is the best way we could think of. The funds will be helping us with medical bills and other expenses we have to endure during all of this. We want to thank you all in advance for all of the help/donations we receive. If you cannot donate, could you please keep our family and Jo Bear in your thoughts and prayers Ivy Jo is one of the strongest little girls I know and together we will beat this. Leukemia picked the wrong princess! HER FIGHT IS OUR FIGHT!

#IvyStrong