#LIZZIESTRONG

GOAL MET!

Elizabeth is a 4-year-old from San Diego, CA and we’re on a mission to raise $5,000 to send Elizabeth and her family on a dream trip to
Disney World & Give Kids the World
where they can make amazing memories together OUTSIDE of the hospital!

Hi there!

We’re the Grant family & our youngest child Elizabeth has B-cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL). We had little to no warning when we found out about Lizzie’s diagnosis. Prior to her getting cancer, Lizzie wouldn’t get sick very much . Such a sweet , spunky toddler always so full of energy! Lizzie used to do gymnastics, dance, soccer, barrel racing, Tball & our family was always on the go with school & everyone’s activities. She truly enjoyed all doing it all. She loved being around other kids, learning & was a total social butterfly.

When we got the news about Elizabeth’s diagnosis, we were hurt & broken . We kept asking ourselves how, why, and where we had gone wrong for this to happen. Unfortunately, these things do JUST happen and we were just unlucky. It hit us like a ton of bricks knowing our sweet little girl was about to endure the unimaginable & start her journey fighting for her life.

It was a rollercoaster of emotions & a million thoughts rushed through our heads. Our two other children were scared & worried about their little sister and helped as much as they could to make her comfortable. We got so much love & support from family & friends . We are forever grateful to each and every one of them for being there for our family. It has all been so overwhelming , all we could think about was Elizabeth & what WE could do to get her better.

Being diagnosed with leukemia, Elizabeth became irritable with everything she’s had to go through during treatment. She wasn’t as bubbly and energetic & became very fatigued from the smallest activities and became very attached to us.

She had to stop all her activities & focus on her treatment journey . Our whole family went through a rough patch trying to get back on our feet after the first few months after Lizzie was diagnosed. We were blessed to have a community of people there for us during the most difficult times & honestly without them, I don’t know how we would have managed through everything.

It was very heartbreaking having to see Lizzie get so sick from chemo & watching her appearance change from steroids, while treatment was taking effect full force. It hurt seeing her get so sad about losing her hair as well as noticing her lose her little spark. There were moments when she couldn’t walk after lumbar puncture procedures, she would cry for hours from her back and legs hurting so much after high doses of chemo. Accessing her port was one of her biggest battles in the beginning & to this day it is still a struggle. There were times where I’d have to pull over on the drives home from treatment / procedure days to help her while she threw up in the backseat. It was heart wrenching.

It was very tough seeing her be so tired spending her days on the couch trying to recover for the next treatment day or procedure to just do it all over again… the next day. We as parents have felt so helpless & all we can do is be there for them, hold their hand and tell them it’s going to be okay. They trust us to protect them at all times & we absolutely do the best we can but I wish with everything in me that she didn’t have to go through this. I wish I could take it all away and get her & us back to our norma lives.

We have had to change our normal routines. We turned to our family & close friends to help with our other two kids especially our son since he needs extra support & attention during these times. Jason has autism & ADHD. These were all big changes for him too & he’s been learning to cope with it all to the best of his abilities. Maisie is the most incredible big sister , always offering to help in any way. Lizzie loves spending time with her siblings .We’ve recently moved back to San Diego to be closer to family & have transferred to Rady Childrens hospital. Our daughter will continue her treatments here and so far it’s been such a great experience .

This whole year has revolved around her treatments & procedures. Lizzie has missed out on all her favorite activities. She hasn’t been able to swim, she hasn’t been able to go back to school, ride her horse, play sports, get back to gymnastics & dance - everything has been very very limited.

We have not had the chance to take any trips or vacations as a family . We take things day by day.

The drives for Elizabeth’s treatments were two hours away at UC Davis in Sacramento . Treatments most of the time would be hours long. I was driving back and forth for months in hopes we would make it back home before sunset.

There were good days and bad depending on how Lizzie would be feeling & there were a lot of sleepless nights. She felt sick most of the time & we did our best to keep her comfortable while helping her get through it.

We’d do this all again if we had to.

For her.

Things are different. They’re not how they used to be but we are pushing through and moving forward as best as we can.

We appreciate all the love & support we’ve been blessed to receive through our girl’s journey all this time.

Our Lizzie is strong, she is resilient & she’s our rockstar. Our other two kids have been our rock and they love their little sister with all their hearts. Our family will forever stick together and keep reaching for the stars.

My husband has worked so very incredibly hard to get us to where we are now. He’s our biggest supporter & Lizzie adores him. They’re best friends. It’s been a real struggle & a long journey and it’s not over yet. We are trying the best we can to find our groove again in hopes we can find ways to make things go more smoothly but being able to see our daughter receive her dream trip would be absolutely everything.

She deserves it 100%.

After all the chemo, steroids, lumbar punctures, bone marrow biopsies, these long & heavy treatments change a child.

She’s constantly nervous, scared, and worried & is aware and knows what’s coming when we have treatment days and we have to watch her get upset & develop anxiety with all she has to go through.

She’s only four.

It would be amazing for our other two children to also enjoy a fun trip as a family. It would give them a break to just be themselves, to be happy, and to see that there are still things to look forward to even when things get hard. It would be so rewarding for our family to be able to spend time together with our three kids and see them carefree & enjoying themselves the way they should be after everything they have endured. It would give us a chance to forget about our mundane day to day life & spend time as a family. We would be able to reward our daughter for her battles!

Lizzie could truly use a distraction & much-deserved break from treatment to enjoy the people she loves most & her favorite place in the world!

- Iliana & Chris Grant