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Author's Email:
carmenvictoriasmith
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"For every child of God defeats this evil world by trusting Christ to give the victory."
John 5:4
ABOUT ME:
Braydon Lee Smith is the 2 year old son of Jacoby and Victoria Massey Smith. He is the grandson of Larry Massey, Mike & Laura Cassady and Joanette Smith.
Braydon was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia
(cancer of the bone marrow). Braydon will have to undergo aggresive chemotherapy for at least 3.5 years. He is currently undergoing chemo once a week and is under the care of the physicians at MD Anderson along with his pediatrician, Dr. Tod Conner.
Donations are needed to help with the medical bills, medicines, chemo treatments and weekly trips to Dallas. Donations can be made at Guaranty Bond Bank in Sulphur Springs and at First National Bank in Winnsboro under " Braydon Smith Love Fund."
MY DIAGNOSES STORY:
Braydon has always been a very content, go-with-the-flow child. He is happy most of the time. He never meets a stranger and is very eager to meet and play with other children. Braydon is very sweet and affectionate....he gives hugs and kisses regularly!
His days have always been spent playing at home with mommy. I have been fortunate enough to be a stay-at-home mom since I was expecting! His daddy (whom he is absolutely crazy about) works very hard to see that Braydon has everything he wants and needs!
Braydon had his second birthday on Dec 11th, 2004. It was a Spongebob pizza party! He had a blast and played very hard that day! And had lots of PIZZA! We noticed that Braydon had fallen alot at his party that day, but it didn't concern us much because he was two and lots of kids don't have great balance at that age!
The next morning (Sunday) when I was getting Braydon dressed I noticed that he had several bruises, and not just in places most kids get them like the knees and elbows! He had them on his back, arms, legs, and even his bottom! This concerned me and I immediatly call Dr. Menchaca, who was his pediatrician at the time, at home and told her what my concern was. She told me to bring him into clinic the next morning before her appts. started arriving and she would take a look at him!
When I woke Braydon up that Monday morning he felt warm to me so I took his temp....it was 102 degrees! When I got him to the clinic she swabbed his nose for the flu...which came back negative and then she took blood for a CBC. At worst I thougth he had a vitamin deficientcy! When she returned to the room she informed me that she was sending us across the street to the hospital for more extensive blood work. I could tell something was not right about her look and demanded to know what was going on....she started to cry and told me Braydon either had Leukemia or Lymphoma....she was sure of it because his blood work was that bad! A Careflite was already on the way from Childrens to pick us up!
24 hours after arriving at Childrens we learned that Braydon had T-Cell ALL, which is the rarer form of Leukemia to have...they see it mostly in teenagers (Michelle Champagne and Courtney Schultz both passed from this type of Leukemia) and still cannot explain to me to this day how a two year old got it!
Two months after Braydon was diagnosed with cancer he developed sever headaches and then was diagnosed with Psuedotumor Cerebri....a "false" brain tumor! It acts as a brain tumor but on scans there is no mass! This is a non-curable disorder...you can only treat the symptoms! The disorder can go away and correct itself with time, but there are no guarentees!This disorder is extremely rare and not much is know about it. The population it does affect is 90% obese women...so again this is something they cannot explain how a 2 year old boy got! Braydon had brain surgery on June 1st 2005 to place a VP shunt in the ventricles of his brain....hoping this would control the symptoms...IT DID NOT WORK! Just recently he has had a major decrease in symptoms and we pray this means the disorder is correcting itself! Or at least that the shunt is now working!
Braydon has taken, and still takes many different types of chemo, (eleven so far!) and has had test after test! He has had 13 hospital admissions, 5 surgeries, and 2 line infections. He continues to have bad side effects and lose his hair!
Our family has been through so many heart-breaking, horrible events over the last year, BUT with it has come so many achievments, breakthroughs, and celebrations. The biggest of those being a stronger relationship with, and FAITH, in our LORD! Of all the pain we have endured....the REWARD outweighs it all, because I have extreme FAITH that my son will be HEALED and be fine!
WE may be exhausted and need help in many ways, but Braydon has the same sweet spirit he was blessed with the day he was born! GOD allowed this to happen to our family to bring us to HIM, becuase HE KNEW that Braydon would be okay! He was right! BRAYDON IS UNBROKEN!!!
