Bryanna’s Story
Bryanna was a very happy 9 year old little girl that overcame many challenges such as high functioning Autism, ADD and learning disabilities. Despite the struggles she had during her day to day life, she still smiled so bright for every little thing. She along with her family survived a catastrophic fire resulting in the loss of everything she had only 1 year prior to her cancer diagnosis. Regardless, she lived life so fully and happy. She loved her sister (Evey) and her brother (Liam) more than anything in the world, and would often direct skits and shows for the three of them to act out. She loved dancing and singing. She would always dance to Katy Perry songs, Taylor Swift songs and anything from Kids Bop. Bryanna loved reading and writing and would often journal about her love of animals. Bryanna loved animals and nature so much. She was fascinated by the ocean, by the trees, by flowers and by the sky. She loved the power of nature and soaked in the various things such as leaves, flowers, sunshine, animals and so many simple things in the world that most people take for granted. She cherished her moments with her dogs that knew when she needed snuggles and when she needed space. Bryanna had a love in her that was so unique, and so much bigger than one could imagine.
On August 1 2016, Bryanna was admitted to Children’s National Medical Center in Washington DC with a suspected case of Meningitis. On August 3, the treatment was no longer working and after further extensive tests, Bryanna was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. At the time of diagnosis, they found that it had already infiltrated her brain and her central nervous system and so treatment started immediately. However, it still took over a week for the subset to be diagnosed (which was sent for analysis to St. Judes). It was then that she was diagnosed with Early T-Cell Precursor Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ETP-ALL). She battled this disease with more strength and grace than any adult we have ever met. Early on during her treatment she went into decompensated septic shock and required intubation which resulted in the loss of all mobility. Though she did recover from the first bout of septic shock, she continued to get sicker. When all treatment options failed to work, she got critically ill with two
anti-resistant bacterial infections resulting in severely decompensated septic shock, which required a second intubation. Shortly after, she went into cardiac arrest and was put on extraordinary life support including ECMO. The teams trying to save her life extended to Children’s National Medical Center, St. Judes, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, NIH, NCI, John Hopkins, the COG and so many more. After extraordinary measures were exhausted, including being on ECMO, Bryanna became our guardian angel on October 24, 2016. During treatment, the only time she smiled was when a stuffed animal was given to her. She snuggled with her stuffed animals and blankets and put on a brave face and kept moving forward. Those snuggly friends gave her a moment of reprieve, a moment of comfort and endless snuggles. Those stuffed animals gave her courage. Throughout her life, Bryanna unknowingly brought people together. She taught us to believe in magic, to see the simple things in life, to relish in the beauty of nature, to love glitter, to dance like nobody is watching, and most of all she taught many of us what LOVE truly means. She loved deeply and unconditionally. It is with this love that we would like Bryanna’s Love to make a difference in the lives of the kids and their families trying to battle childhood cancer.