Cancer Mom

On February 9th, 2007, our then only child, two-year-old Karson, was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. Our world has never been the same.

Karson endured over three years of chemotherapy and treatment. He was a trooper. My husband, Kraig, and I walked one of the hardest roads of our lives during those years. But, the valleys we experienced also led to some mountaintops as we added two precious daughters to our family in 2008 and 2010, and as Karson finished treatment with great success on April 23rd, 2010!

Karson has now been off of chemo for over ten years! He is in high school and developmentally right where he should be. He remains cancer-free, happy, and healthy. We struggle to put into words our joy and our gratitude to God and his brilliant doctors and nurses.

A passage from the Bible that we clung to during the journey is found in 2 Corinthians 1:10b-11

On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us, as you help us by your prayers. Then many will give thanks on our behalf for the gracious favor granted us in answer to the prayers of many. 

We are grateful for the prayers of many and a gracious God on whom we have set our hope.

I did not sign up for this journey or ever wish to be dubbed a “cancer mom,” but that is reality. And so we have decided not to “waste” the opportunities that cancer has presented for our family to share and offer hope to others. We speak at events and share Karson’s story. Karson is learning to put into words how leukemia has impacted his life.

We pray God will use our pain and Karson’s story to help others who may be in a similar situation or who are experiencing the pain of loss of “life as they knew it.”

If you’d like to read the blog we kept for about 5 years during Karson’s cancer journey, you can find it here: