Chloe's Story

Chloe was 10 years old when she started displaying cold-like symptoms after returning from a family vacation. She didn’t feel too badly, but her mother took her to the doctor just to be safe. The doctor diagnosed Chloe with the flu and sent her home. Chloe got better, although two weeks later, the symptoms returned. Chloe’s mother also noticed a raised lymph node. So she brought Chloe back to the doctor. The doctor took a chest x-ray, which showed that Chloe had a large mass over her heart.

“When Chloe heard that she didn’t have to come back for a while, she became very sad...The doctor had to sit down with her and explain that this was a good thing, that it was what we had been aiming for.”

The doctor immediately sent Chloe to the emergency room, where doctors performed a battery of tests and determined that the mass was malignant. The doctors then performed a biopsy and took samples of Chloe’s bone marrow in order to determine the exact type of cancer Chloe had. Three days later, Chloe was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

“No one wants to hear the cancer word,” said Marc, Chloe’s father. “But the worst part for me was the waiting—waiting to know what kind of cancer and therefore what kind of treatment she needed. I wanted them to start curing her disease right away.”

At the hospital, Chloe bonded with a nurse, who took her under her wing and helped her through the process. She recalls that the reality of her situation hit her during her second round of chemotherapy, when her father was brushing her beautiful straight hair. All of the sudden, it started coming out in clumps. Chloe broke down in tears.

Chloe went through five rounds of chemotherapy. She grew very close to her doctors, nurses, child life specialists and other patients during the five months of her treatment. “When Chloe heard that she didn’t have to come back for a while, she became very sad,” said Marc.  “The doctor had to sit down with her and explain that this was a good thing, that it was what we had been aiming for.”

Chloe’s cancer is now in remission. She is excited that her hair has grown back, and it’s curly! Not too long ago, one of Chloe’s doctors asked her for a favor. She followed him to the pediatric intensive care unit to talk to a woman whose son was just diagnosed with leukemia. The woman spoke little English and was terrified that her son was going to die. The doctor introduced Chloe to the woman and told her Chloe’s story. The woman wrapped her arms around Chloe and, with tears in her eyes, held her tightly. Chloe knew that she gave this woman hope, simply by being there.