In honor of her release, in today’s blog we’re putting our Lilac Spotlight on Tess, the beautiful face of Lilac Market Headbands in Illinois!
Some of you may have met Tess already at the Morton Farmer’s Market, where she and her awesome mom Libby can be found every Tuesday from June through August.
For those long-time Lilac Market followers, you’ve spotted Tess in our social media as well as in our St. Jude Runs collection photos. And now, she has her own release benefiting St. Jude called The Tess Collection: Surviving & Thriving. She picked the name herself, and that’s for a very special reason.
In 2008, sweet toddler Tess seemed to be tired, a little pale, and sporadically complaining of leg pain. Her parents took her to their family doctor for a check up and blood work. Nothing was alarming, so they decided to wait and watch.
But within a week, they could easily see that she was getting worse. Pain started to spread to other areas, and woke Tess in the night. Taking her to the doctor, they performed several scans and tests, which kept coming back with no clear answer.
In January 2009, Tess and her family were sent to St. Jude in Peoria, Illinois, for a deeper look into what could be happening. It was there that a bone marrow biopsy and aspiration showed them their life-changing news:
Tess, just 3 years old at the time, had a tumor in her adrenal gland and cancer cells in her bone marrow.
She was diagnosed with stage 4 high-risk neuroblastoma.
Neuroblastoma is typically found in children under 3 years old, creates tumors and can affect nerve tissue and bone marrow, causing compression on vital organs and the spinal cord throughout the body.
Upon receiving the news, they were lucky enough to stay at the Midwest Affiliate in Peoria for Tess’ initial diagnosis and first surgery. The affiliate clinic was a godsend, as the transitions back and forth across hospitals could have been incredibly complicated. After only one week of recovery, they headed to Memphis for further treatment.
Tess was given a gut-wrenching 20-30% prognosis, meaning the odds of survival, at that time.
Between Memphis and Peoria, Tess faced 10 months of chemotherapy, a stem-cell harvest and transplant, several surgeries, 13 rounds of radiation and 6 month antibody therapy treatment.
Tess’s days were filled with checking labs, undergoing chemotherapy and other treatments that lasted anywhere from an hour to a week. St. Jude made sure that they provided Tess with the normal routine while recovering that allowed her to be a kid whether at the hospital or home, with movies, toys and a backpack made for her central line for medicine.
What helped the family cope was not having to worry about finances. St. Jude pays for everything necessary that insurance can’t cover. Her medical team (social workers, child life specialists, doctors and nurses) were always ahead of the game and aware of what was most comfortable for Tess. They looked at the whole picture so the family could focus on one moment at a time.
It was tough to hear the initial prognosis at first, but they were able to hold onto hope during treatment through their faith and the trust of the St. Jude teams in Memphis and Peoria.
In 2015, Tess achieved the precious gift of a diagnosis: cured, meaning she is now cancer-free! Her last treatment was July 4th, 2010.
Today, Tess is a thriving 16-year old young woman, will be entering her junior year in highschool this fall and recently got her driver’s license. She's working a summer job in a retirement home this year, and will be participating for the first time in the St. Jude Run this July.
Why should you donate? When Tess started the journey of treating her cancer, the antibody was not available. But because of the on-going research happening at St. Jude, Tess’s prognosis jumped to 70% - a real life miracle!
“Someone’s dollar, given before 2009, changed our life.” says mom Libby. “You’re helping someone in the future, and it could be you.”
Not only does St. Jude provide cutting edge medical treatment, they also provide hope for a cure. Without the care and love that every staff member showered on Tess and her entire family, that hope would have been lost. St. Jude was able to care for Tess’s medical needs, their emotional needs, as well as their financial needs. St. Jude saved Tess’s life, and they could save yours, too.
We're so inspired and in love with Tess, we had to make her own line of headbands to showcase her sweet spirit and calm determination. 50% of every purchase of The St Jude Runs collection will go toward sponsoring her run this year, which is just another way to support St. Jude Runs!
To hear the story first-hand from Libby, watch their St. Jude Patient story here.
If you'd like to help Tess meet her donation goal for the St. Jude Run, you can donate directly to her fundraising page here.
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