Warrior Wednesday Spotlight - Hadley Crain

This week we are highlighting campaign kid Hadley! Hadley was our 6th OAAT West Campaign Kid!

Before cancer life for Little Hadley was carefree and fun, full of life and enjoyed time with her older sister Makena. Hadley has a deep love for felines, she loves all cats and that became Hadley's signature at her treating hospital and what brought her strength to get her through her difficult journey.

Hadley's first signs of cancer were foot and leg pain which is something that most parents would just consider growing pains. On November 13th 2019 Hadley's moms heard the words that no parents expect to hear... Your daughter has cancer! Hadley at the age of 5 was diagnosed with B-cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia. Hadley struggled with debilitating anxiety during her treatments from blood draws, to not trusting doctors. Towards the end Hadley's maintenance phase of treatment Hadley's port stopped working and had to be removed. Hadley's oncology team wanted to have Hadley finish out her journey by doing the rest of her treatments by IV through her arm which was a big trigger for Hadley. Hadley's moms Katy and Pam advocated hard for Hadley and were able to have Hadley's port replaced and have the rest of her treatments done through port accesses. Hadley's journey was a long one at 954 days of treatments Hadley finally got to ring the bell signifying the end of her chemo treatments on June 24th 2022.

Hadley's mom Katy said that the hardest part of treatment was “watching Hadley deal with extreme separation anxiety and our hospital didn’t let us stay with her while she fell asleep with anesthesia at the surgery center. We tried to explain how crucial it was that she be asleep *before* she gets wheeled away, and they insisted she would be, but there was one time that she was still awake as they made us leave, and she woke up in post-op screaming that they held her down and pushed an oxygen mask over her face while she yelled for Mama and she heard them say “don’t worry, she won’t remember this.” She put a sign on her bedroom door that said “don’t trust adults” and we are still dealing with all the trauma that caused”

Katy also said that she didn’t know much about cancer and had no idea there were multiple different chemotherapy drugs her daughter would have to take. She also didn’t know she would need to give Hadley chemo at home. It helped when Hadley at the age of 5 learned how to swallow pills since she couldn’t stomach the taste of the liquid medications. Katy wished people knew that this journey is hard for the whole family and support

is desperately needed to get families through the hardest moments of their lives. “We wouldn’t have made it through without the community that donated money to us, brought us food, took our older daughter to and from school, etc.”

Hadley went through her Journey in the middle of the pandemic where it came with moments of disappointments when it came to kids dealing with life threating illness to be able to travel with organizations. When Campaign One At A Time reached out to Hadley and her family, Hadley explained she wanted more than just a trip to Disney World, she specifically wanted to skip the lines and stay at Give Kids The World Village so she’d get that special treatment. Campaign One At A Time let Hadley know that as soon as travel was opened back up that her dream would come true. Campaign OAAT made true on their promise and within two months, after travel opened back up and Hadley had clearance from her Oncologist Hadley and her family were on a flight from California to Florida to make memories at the happiest place on earth. Hadley's mom Katy said “one of the best parts of being a part of Campaign One At A Time has been the community and feeling like you are apart of a family, a family that understands. We love the friends and connections we’ve made.”

Hadley finished treatment in June 2022. She just recently had her one year off-treatment appointment and is doing well physically, and continuing to work on healing mentally. Thankfully Hadley's treatments are done but blood draws and arm pokes are tough. Hadley's mom says “The hard parts now are trying to get used to navigating life in a world that thinks Hadley should be back to “normal”

Cancer changes so many things for the rest of your life, especially for children and their families.

If you would like to follow Hadley's journey you can find her at @Katybcrain on Instagram.

Written By Tracy Croxen