(Over the course of the next few weeks, the Lincoln Parish Journal is republishing some of its most memorable stories from the past year … some of our readers favorites).
Written by Lauren Pipes, mother of Reed Pipes
Presidents Day, 2024. A day that will forever be ingrained in my memory. The day that we got a call that told us our baby boy had cancer.
I was standing at the kitchen island when my phone rang. We had been waiting for a call with lab results for what seemed like the longest three days of our lives.
When I answered the phone, and heard the news: “Reed has leukemia, do you have any questions.”
I could not even speak. After hanging up the phone, I went to the front porch for air and to get away from my son, who was sitting on the couch watching TV.
Questions. Yes, I had so many. I knew absolutely nothing about Leukemia. I had no idea how to tell a 4-year-old that he had cancer. I couldn’t fathom explaining it to my 7-year-old daughter either. It was overwhelming.
Meanwhile our amazing doctor in Ruston was filing the paperwork to get Reed to St. Jude for treatment. Little did we know at the time; the care we received at St. Jude would be a life changing experience for our family.
When we arrived at St. Jude the next day, we were blown away by how quickly everything happened. Reed began treatment the very next day. The doctors and nurses were amazing about presenting a plan and explaining in detail everything that was about to happen. We had so much to learn about our child and his diagnosis and St. Jude personnel made that process easy.
Here are some facts about childhood cancer:
- About 44 children are diagnosed with cancer every day.
- One in five children diagnosed with cancer do not survive past five years.
- Childhood cancer research funding is much lower than funding for adult cancers.
- Pediatric cancer survival rate has increased from about 60% in 1970 to about 85% in recent years.
- Cancer is one of the leading causes of death for children and adolescents worldwide.
St. Jude and the research that they provide have helped to make huge strides in fighting childhood cancers. The team at St. Jude has been a Godsend to our family. They have taken an awful situation and lessened the burden mentally and financially. All treatments and research are funded by donations. If you are looking for somewhere to donate, there is no better place than St. Jude.
Our children deserve to have adults who fight for them when they can’t. That is what St. Jude is doing. It is fighting for our kids, so that we can one day end childhood cancer.
Our son, Reed, is about a year into treatment and is doing better and better every day.
_________________________________________
The region’s 44th St. Jude Radiothon will be broadcast Feb. 13-14 from 7 a.m.-6 p.m. on Ruston station Z107.5.
During the event, donations can be made by calling 1-800-787-5288 or by donating online via the station’s website (Z1075fm.com), Facebook (Z107.5) or Instagram (Z1075fm) pages. In-person donations will be collected in related side events at the Ruston Walmart Supercenter and Super 1 Foods.
