About Us

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On April 5th, 2015, Rylee woke up with stomach pains. As she was bent over crying on that Easter Sunday, her mom asked if she needed to go to the hospital. Rylee said yes through her tears and off they went. 

Amanda arrived with Rylee to the hospital in the morning thinking it was going to be a quick visit. Amanda asked Rylee if she really needed to go in and Rylee said maybe it was just gas. As Amanda went to put the car in reverse, the most gut wrenching feeling came over her that said to just take her in. 

Once in the ER, Dr. Nikki began to ask questions about Rylee's pain and what she ate the night before. Since Rylee was at her dad's house and mom was not sure when she went to the bathroom last, Dr. Nikki ordered an X-ray. 

While the waiting the results of the X-ray, Rylee's dad Will showed up to the hospital. Shortly after that, Dr. Nikki came in to say they think they see a shadow in her chest and want to now do a chest X-ray. Again, Rylee and her parents waited for results. 

The chest X-Ray results came back. We were pulled from the room to view a screen at the nurses station. There sat another doctor who said the shadow in Rylee's chest is unknown and they wanted to do a CT scan. 

Again, we waited for results on the CT scan. At this point, family members were called and informed we were in the hospital with Rylee. Emotionally tired, we all took a quick nap while waiting for the CT scan results. 

My sister Mary arrived at the hospital. As she turned the corner to greet us, a nurse, an attending, and Dr. Nikki were turning the other corner to talk to us. I grabbed her dad's arm and said our lives were about to change. 

They took us into a small room, while Titi sat with Rylee. In this room we were told that something was growing in Rylee's chest and they didn't know what it was. Her dad was stoic and trying to process everything when I melted into a ball of tears. We gained our composure and they admitted Rylee to the HEMOC floor. 

Over the next few weeks, Rylee would undergo numerous testing and scans. From bone marrow to MIBG scans, she was poked countless times.