In 2019, Westfield residents Samantha and Miles Brown received a cancer diagnoses just months apart. On August 23, 2019, Samantha, who was 5 years old at the time, was diagnosed with Wilm’s Tumora—a very rare form of kidney cancer which required removal of her left kidney and 20 rounds of chemotherapy treatment.
Shortly thereafter, on December 13, 2019, 2-year-old Miles was diagnosed with Burkitt’s Leukemia—a fast-growing and aggressive cancer. He spent 54 straight days at Riley Hospital for Children and underwent six months of in-patient chemotherapy. Samantha and Miles were successfully treated at Riley Hospital for Children at IU Health. Today, both Samantha and Miles are in remission and cancer free!
Lily is 10 years old and has Down syndrome. She was admitted to Riley when she was 3 weeks old for a possible infection. Ultimately, she ended up having Transient Myeloproliferative Disease and aspiration. Lily saw specialists at Riley weekly for the first year of her life and frequently for her first four years, too. We absolutely love our Riley team!!
Hendrix’s family found out at his mother’s 20-weeks scan that he had a congenital heart defect and would be born at Riley. He had his own plans though and decided to make his grand entrance 6 weeks early. Hendrix was 4 pounds, 13 ounces at birth, but he proved right away he was a fighter.
Hendrix and his family were in the NICU for 28 days watching him grow and gain weight so they could finally take him home. His family said that they made so many friends with the nurses and Riley staff during their stay, and they truly made his family’s NICU experience a positive one. The staff cared for Hendrix like their own and his family learned so much from all of them.
Hendrix was home for a month and a half and had to go back to Riley for his first heart surgery. He had a band placed around his pulmonary artery to help restrict blood flow and pressure to help his body not work so hard. The surgery was successful, and him and his family had another 14-day stay at Riley.
Again, Hendrix’s CVICU nurses were exceptional and took the best care of him. Hendrix’s family saw improvements in his breathing and eating almost immediately after surgery. He had his second heart surgery in May 2024—this was open heart surgery—and they fully repaired his heart. He had a large hole patched and a pathway was created to form a tunnel between the left ventricle and the aorta. He had another 11-day stay at Riley for this surgery, but he was back to his normal self in no time.
If you didn’t know his story, you truly wouldn’t know he recently had open heart surgery. He has been through more in his short time on earth than most adults do their whole lives. Despite everything he’s been through, Hendrix is so full of joy and love and is absolutely thriving!!!
When Abbey was 2 years old, her family noticed she was developing a lot of bruises. Within a couple weeks they saw petechia. Her pediatrician gave her family the “leukemia talk.” The oncologist at Riley gave them that same talk—until her biopsy.
They pulled her family into their lab and showed them the slide of her bone marrow. There weren’t any cancer cells, but there also weren’t many blood cells present. For the next two years, Abbey’s family spent hundreds of days and nights at Riley. Abbey received many blood transfusions to keep her alive.
Through all that, Abbey went into remission. She has been living her best life playing softball, swimming, and doing all the things she can.
When asked what she remembers about her time at Riley, it’s her favorite nurse, Patty and the cookies that were brought to her when she had a rough procedure. She also remembers the child life specialists that would do crafts with her or let her watch their tablets during a rough day. Her family says that they are forever grateful for the love and care she received from the Riley team.
Reagan was 2 months old when she was diagnosed with craniosynostosis. Craniosynostosis is when the plates in your head prematurely fuse together. To correct it, the doctor had to cut her skull open for her skull to grow properly. To this day, Reagan still has a small soft spot on the crown of her head, but is happy and healthy.
Leo’s journey started with some pain in his leg on August 25, 2022. His parents told him to he probably just pulled a muscle as he just started weights for school and baseball. He pushed through the pain and continued to go to school and practice. A few days later, he came home from practice and told us after doing one of the exercises that he was in so much pain and dropped to the ground.
The next day, his parents took him to urgent care; they did x-rays and found nothing wrong. After doing more examinations and blood tests, they found that his white blood count was very high. Leo and his family traveled to Riley Hospital to find out he has Chronic Myeloid Leukemia, and being the champ that he is, Leo said he was ready to start treatment. In December 2022, after getting blood tests completed, he was already in stage 2 of three remissions. The Wooldridge family is beyond grateful for the efforts the HEMOC doctors put into helping Leo!
Addyson was born with Spina Bifida, myelomeningocele, hydrocephalus and clubbed feet. Due to her Spina Bifida, she was diagnosed with a neurologic bladder that required surgery.
She loves her big brother Leo more than anything and he is her biggest cheerleader. She lights up a room when she smiles, and everyone asks her parents how they can say no to her because she is so cute. She has low mobility and stability in her legs, so she uses a walker and a wheelchair for long distances. She does not let her situation stop her from living and is becoming more independent every day.
Grace started her Riley journey when her family noticed something during her 8-year wellness check and decided to check it out with an ultrasound. She was diagnosed with kidney cancer in March of 2024.
Her family traveled down to Indy so Grace could get her volleyball-sized tumor removed and to confirm it was cancer. She spent two weeks in the hospital and returned to have her place port and her first round of chemo. She did five months of chemo and is now in remission!
The Frey family’s journey with Riley started when their mother developed severe preeclampsia at 22- weeks pregnant with quintuplets in October of 2022. They were hoping to make it to 28 weeks and would have delivered a little closer to home, but Riley was the most equipped to handle micro-preemies and the high-risk pregnancy.
They instantly got to know many of the doctors and ultrasound techs as they were having daily scans and checks on the babies. Unfortunately, their babies ended up being delivered at 24 weeks and two days because of their mother’s kidneys failing.
The quintuplets were born on October 25, 2022.
Brooks Allen was born sleeping and at 13 ounces.
Bailey Elaine was 1 pound and passed away on Nov. 11, 2022.
Liam Isaac was 1 pound, 2 ounces and passed away on Nov. 27, 2022.
Avie Leigh was 1 pound, 5 ounces.
Luke Henry was 1 pound, 6 ounces.
The little ones were immediately taken to the NICU where they had a hard up-and-down journey! Bailey ended up needing surgery on her intestines, and the family’s NICU nurses carried them through these highs and lows. They said the hardest moments in their lives were spent in those rooms. The family traveled three hours every single day to be with their babies.
They went through so much and ultimately after 129 days in the NICU, Avie and Luke were able to go home on oxygen and feeding tubes. Now, they are thriving like every other 2-year-old. They still go back to see the BPD clinic, but they are doing amazing!
