Meet Mattie.  Mattie is a beautiful 6 year old little girl with blonde hair and blue eyes.  Both she and my daughter are in the same first grade class.

On October 28, 2009 Mattie was diagnosed with Pre B-Cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia.

Here is a segment that her father wrote on her CaringBridge page:  “We went to Disney world on the 14th of October and Mattie was running a fever with no other symptoms.  She was getting her back molars, so we thought the fever was probably related to cutting teeth.  Her fever continued, but responded to Tylenol and again had no other complaints.  When we got back, her fever persisted and we took her to her pediatrician and they felt like she just had a fever virus.  All of her blood work looked fine.  The fever stayed on and we went back to the doctor and they did a chest x-ray and more blood work with all tests coming back negative.  Then they tested for mono and a couple of other mono related diseases and again, nothing.  On Tuesday, the 26th of October, she was feeling much better and Luanne called the doctors and asked if it was all right for her to return to school the next day.  They said it would be fine, but that they wanted to check her blood again sometime during the week.  Luanne decided to go ahead and get it done, so they went straight over.  This time her white blood cell count was out of whack and they sent us to T.C. Thompson’s Children’s Hospital for further blood tests.  Those tests showed cause for concern and she was scheduled for a bone marrow test the next morning at 8:00 a.m.  Unfortunately, the bone marrow tests showed that she had Pre B-Cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia, or ALL.  She was admitted to the hospital right immediately and scheduled to begin chemotherapy on Monday, November 2, 2009.  The good news is that we have caught it early, and it is a very curable type of leukemia, the bad news is that she has 26 months of chemotherapy ahead of her.  Please keep our precious little girl in your prayers as begins this long journey.”

As a parent, I can’t imagine receiving such heartbreaking news.  I am humbled and honored I was asked to take pictures of Mattie before she began her treatments.

Please keep Mattie and the Ballentine family in your prayers as they go through this difficult time.  And please take the time to join the Facebook group that Mattie’s dad started,
“100,000 join Mattie’s Mission to Beat Leukemia” .  They have had over 4,600 people join, many of whom they have never even met!  He specifically told me it is such an encouragement to Mattie and her family.  So please, click on the link and join this group!  It would mean so much to the family!

Just one minute of your time will mean the world to this little girl.

Mattie, we are praying for you!

Love,

Pleasant