The Smallest Warrior

Cancer... A harsh, unfair battle so many people have to fight. Sometimes it has a quicker (yet still painful) fix. Like my father who battled a type of lymphoma hereditary in the male genes of our family. But it was cured by simply removing the affected areas and a few months of chemotherapy. When the problem is caught early, it can be removed or even treated with various medical methods like chemotherapy or radiation. Then there are cancers that are caused by our lifestyle choices. Liver cancer or lung cancer, caused by excessive drinking and smoking. Or something as simple as being in the sun to long which can cause skin cancer. Then there are the cases that just don't make sense. Cancers that appear that just don't have a cause or reasoning. There are way to many of these particular cases but the one I'm talking about in particular is pediatric cancers. Children, the most innocent creatures. They don't understand things like cancer or disease in general. And yet so many of them also have to experience the pain and struggle of it. It truly is unfair to those sweet souls and so painful for everyone to watch them go through.

June Lanham, 5 months before the earth shattering diagnoses, was a fiery spirited 3 year old. She loved to run and play with other kids and she never met a stranger. She was feisty yet sweet little lady that loved her family and never seemed bothered by much of anything. Then around September of 2019 some noticeable changes started to appear in her basic motor skills. She started struggling to walk, limping a bit, walking bowlegged, and just constantly falling. She even had to ride in a stroller during most of that year's Halloween trip due to constant falling and fatigue. After a couple of visits to her pediatrician she was given leg braces. The initial thought being she was just having a growth issue. She struggled for another 3 and half months while we all scratched our heads and wondered what the problem may have been before the true cause of her decline was discovered.

February 16th, 2020 around 8pm. I was sitting in my living room, sipping my cabernet and watching Netflix when I got the heart shattering news. My brother had been at the store with my niece, picking up a few groceries. He said they hadn't been there long before June Bug started grabbing her head and complaining of a bad head pains. He said it was constant and he rushed her to Children's Hospital immediately. Some kids get headaches every now and then but for a 3 year old, severe head pain isn't exactly common. After running tests and a much needed CT scan, it was discovered she had several brain tumors, one of them growing directly on her brain stem. The official diagnosis, Choroid Plexus Carcinoma. A rare, aggressive cancer that causes tumors to grow in the fluid around the brain and along the spine. She also was diagnosed a bit later with leptomeningeal disease, which also contributes to the tumors along the spine.

And so started the stressful and painful journey for our little June Bug and her family. Shortly after finding the tumors, she was set up to have the one on her brainstem removed. It was the primary cause of her regression in walking and talking, as well as issues with her vision, so it needed to be removed quickly. The surgery was scary, it lasted about 9 hours, give or take. So many people came to pray for and wish the family well during the procedure. And most of us family camped out in the surgery lobby for the entire procedure. Brain surgery is a scary thing but that fear intensifies greatly when it's such a small 3 year old child. The surgery was a success, however. They got most of the tumor off and she was recovering great. She ended up losing some her hearing and struggled with her memory a bit but overall she healed well.

As the already stressful year of 2020 progressed, little June Bug was started on chemotherapy and various cycles of medicine and steroids. That summer she also had to have another surgery to remove the larger yet less lethal tumor from the top of her head. There were and still are several other small tumors scattered along her spine and around her brain, one behind her eye. But unfortunately they are unable to manually remove those. The chemo also didn't do much. She didn't have any new growths but at the same time nothing went away either. So around September 2020 they decided to try radiation. Once again no real change. December of 2020, they stopped the radiation and gave us the heartbreaking news that there was nothing else they could do.

So many doctor's visits and watching her lose and gain weight on a monthly basis causing unimaginable anxiety and stress on all those who loved her and of course the stress it put on her as well. People all over the nation started to learn about her. A People's magazine article was written as well as local paper's getting word out about this sweet baby's fight. People reached out to the family offering them help wherever they could. Showing us that there are still kind hearted people in the world and giving this feisty little warrior plenty to be thankful for. Showing her that she is not alone. Even as COVID took over our world, she still got to experience so much that she may not ever get to experience again. She was offered a Make-A-Wish but because of COVID she was limited. Disney and a personal meeting with her favorite Nickelodeon star, Jojo Siwa, were all declined. But she did get her own professionally trained dog to help with stress, as well as several of her favorite Youtubers giving her virtual shout outs. Which of course made her day.

It is now 2021, over a year has passed since she was diagnosed and we are once again creeping into the summer season. She has yet another birthday coming around the corner, soon to turn 5 years old. As of now the doctors still have nothing else they are able to do for her. She had her tubes removed from her chest days ago and now only have her MRI and physical therapy appointments to deal with in relation to the cancer. A bitter sweet thing. The tumors still haven't grown any but they also haven't shrunken either. The family continues to search for anything that may help save her but no new hope has made itself known. But through all this craziness, that sweet girl has remained her silly, fun little self. She is the strongest person I've ever had the honor of knowing. June Lanham fights every day and continues to amaze us with her optimistic attitude. She plays and smiles like nothing in the world has even changed for her. She has no fear. She is the definition of innocence and bravery.

If you would like to keep up or catch up on all things June, her family has a Facebook page dedicated to her journey, June's Fight. I believe my sister-in-law's parents have a PO box dedicated to mail and such sent for June, from her many supporters and followers.