Healing Hud

Hud got his 2024 survivor box in the mail from St Jude! They send one out to the kids each year. 💙🎗️

Hudson had his most recent scans this week and is still NED! To be honest, this was an emotional/stressful, PACKED trip and we couldn’t be happier to be home with our healthy boy. His next scans and horomone testing will be in August. 🎗️ Thanking God for our boy!

This kid was requested by name to come down to Nashville and be the official St Jude representative for Supercross at their big St Jude race!! We are so excited for this opportunity! Tomorrow is going to be such a fun day. 💙

1. We hatched some chicks! 🐣

2. Hudson got new glasses. 🤓

3. His quarterly scans in Memphis are 3 weeks from today! 🩻

4. THIS Friday, we have a huge opportunity through St Jude that involves travel, dirt bikes and a weekend trip with our boys. (They have no idea!) Any guesses what it is if you don’t know yet? Can’t wait to share all of the details as we go! ✈️

And life is worth the living just because He lives.

Happy Easter!

This trip was busy, but so great. One year off treatment is such a huge deal! Posts will be very scarce the next few months, but here is an overall update from the last couple of days! 🎗️

1. Hudson only has a couple more 3 month scans then will move onto 6 months! It’s a weird feeling to be away from St Jude for so long. Maybe it’s just me, but it’s comforting to be there! 🏥

2. His eye is doing great after his surgery in October! He will be trying out glasses again to help with his vision. He was having dizzy spells and headaches just days before this trip (talk about a rollercoaster of emotions for us lol), but we are thankful it’s only due to his eye. 🤓

3. Hudson had a growth plate x ray to check his bone growth vs his age and it measured right on track! One of his chemo drugs can jump start puberty, while radiation can slow down his growth. Basically, we have to stay on top of all of this testing because he can either grow too fast, or too slow. 🙃

On his growth chart, he is showing very early signs of decline, so he will be seeing endocrine again in 6 months to re check and have possible growth hormone testing done. He will then start growth hormones if needed! 📉

5. Hudson was so happy during this trip. He was running around, high fiving the staff, answering questions, and leading the way down the halls. It was so good to see. 🥹 It really feels like we have gotten our “pre cancer” boy back in a way.

Bonus: St Jude dropped their mask mandate for patients last week, so he got to see his dr and nurse’s faces!! I think this helped him feel more comfortable. 🥰

6. Lastly, a miracle happened… he handled his IV like a CHAMP! Typically I have to restrain him while he screams and cries. He didn’t flinch, or cry. Afterward, he told us it was “easy peasy” and was so proud to tell Emmerson when we got home last night. 🙌🏻

To all who have commented, texted, messaged, and especially prayed, THANK YOU! The support really means more than we could ever say. I know I’ve said that probably 100 times, but we mean it! 💙

God. is. so. good. I can’t imagine ever going through this without putting our trust in Him. He is our strength and peace through it all. Yet not I, but through Christ in me. 💪🏻

My boy still has NO evidence of any cancer in his body! Clear brain scan. 🙌🏻 Thank you, Jesus.

He’s still got a couple of appointments today and tomorrow, but we are so happy to have this part done with! Thank you all so much for all of your prayers and reaching out!

Yesterday’s festivities included being escorted down for both the opening ceremonies and first couple of races from the podium! We got to walk through the tunnel where all of the riders waited to come out, and stand right by them. These boys will never forget these last two days! We met so many nice people who also love and support St. Jude. We are so thankful for this experience.

A bonus to our day was meeting another fellow St Jude patient who is also from MI! Sweet little Beckett. (Ok, Beckett had just fallen asleep on his mom’s lap, but I got to chat with his parents for a few minutes. 🤣) He is a brain cancer warrior as well. Though he had a different type of tumor than our Hud, he went through the same treatment plan at St Jude. I was so happy we got to connect in person! We are bummed their scans don’t line up together to see eachother while in Memphis. 😩 Beckett’s Warriors we will always be cheering you on!

Countdown to his next scans is on! 10 days and we will be back in Memphis. 🎗️

What an amazing experience! Back tomorrow for some more fun and races. Thank you Supercross!!

A friend of ours received Hudson in the mail today! 🤩

Hud has the opportunity to represent St. Jude at Supercross this weekend! We don’t have the full
details yet, but he (ok, us too) is so excited! He, Max and Emmerson all love Supercross, and to be involved in the fundraising for St Jude makes it all that much more exciting!

👋 We’ve met a lot of new people recently, and have received very similar questions from many regarding Hudson, his cancer and St Jude. Though I am very open and love talking about every detail of our boy and his journey, I figure pinning a post here would also be helpful! After all, that is a main reason this page was originally created. 🙃

🎗️Hudson’s cancer: Medulloblastoma. Though rare, it is still the most common brain cancer in children. It is very aggressive, and there is still a lot of research being done. This is why we chose St Jude. They are incredibly knowledgeable, and have a protocol just for his type. We first had the idea to go there from his brain surgeon at U of M who recommended it. 🤫 There are many different groups and subgroups of Medulloblastoma, and still I barely understand any of it. He is Group 3 Subgroup 4, which is considered intermediate risk. We are very happy about that, because his prognosis is so much better than it could have been.

✈️ We fly down to Memphis every 3 months for his scans. These scans will spread out over time. St Jude covers all of our travel and housing for it. (Unless we bring our other children. Then we pay for their travel and have to get an air B&B)

🏥 When at St Jude for his scans, he also visits everyone else on his care team. Neurology, physical therapy, speech therapy, Ophthalmology, audiology, and endocrinology are a few. The hospital is one big campus and they do all of the scheduling for you. It makes it so much less stressful. They are very long and tiring days, but it is so worth it. These trips typically last about 3 days. (We have an incredible support system at home who holds down the fort with our other two children and 🐩 .)

🙌🏻 St Jude always pays for the patient, and two caregivers’ travel when said travel is necessary. For example, when traveling to start treatment or for scans. They provide housing for up to 4 people in your family. They have shuttles, however, we find it worth it to have our own car during treatment or rent a car when flying down for scans. (A “non necessary travel” was when we would fly Max back and forth every weekend to visit me and Hudson during treatment, or when we came home for the holidays.)

🩻 This coming up trip is his one year post treatment scan. This is HUGE for him! Right now, he is considered “NED” which stands for no evidence of disease. Once he hits 5 years of clear scans, he will then be considered cancer free! 4 more to go. We can’t wait!

💙 If you read through this entire post, thank you! We appreciate all of the prayers and support more than we could ever say. We leave for Memphis on Valentine’s Day, and his scan is early the next day. We feel the pressure of this, but we do not let it consume us. We are so thankful that God made us this boy’s parents. His plan is always perfect and we are so grateful.

We had the best time celebrating our boy this week!

Mine are tears in times of sorrow
Darkness not yet understood
Through the valley I must travel
Where I see no earthly good
But mine is peace that flows from heaven
And the strength in times of need
I know my pain will not be wasted
Christ completes His work in me

But mine is armour for this battle
Strong enough to last the war
And He has said He will deliver
Safely to the golden shore

Come rejoice now, O my soul
For His love is my reward
Fear is gone and hope is sure
Christ is mine forevermore!

Song by: CityAlight

Christ is Mine Forevermore - CityAlight Christ is Mine ForevermoreWritten By Jonny Robinson and Rich ThompsonPerformed by CityAlightOn “Only a Holy God”CityAlight Music 2016CityAlight: http://www.c...

Hudson is 6 today!! Show him some love here in the comments! Videos, pictures, gifs, whatever you’d like! We will show him later on tonight. 💙

Hudson was in our daily St. Jude Children's Research Hospital email today!



Did we also share that he is on one of the walls at the St Jude gift shop on campus?? He was so excited to see it in person, and so were we! 😍

We are thoroughly enjoying our Christmas season at home this year! One year ago today, Hudson and I were cooped up at the Ronald McDonald house in Memphis. He was in the middle of his third chemo round, and we were trying to keep him as healthy as possible while his counts were down. This year, we are doing all of the things with our family!

On Sunday, both boys sang on stage at church. Hudson stepping out like this is such a huge deal! We’ve had two teachers tell us this last week that they’ve noticed such a big positive change in him. He’s more outgoing, and handling change so much better. He did walk off the stage crying during the second service performance, but went back up for his last song. 💙

Just 13 more days until Christmas! Hudson thinks that he can’t wait that long. 🤣🎄🎅🏻

Also, to caption the second to last last pic:
“This is how you look cute!”

When I say we have the best neighbors, it’s not an exaggeration or to brag…it’s just facts! Our neighbor from two doors down had the boys over this morning for a special “Christmas camp”. They made so many cute crafts for themselves and a few close family members. (Look at the super cute gingerbread men they are working on!) They had a BLAST. 🥹 Plus, I was able to get some secret Christmas things done which was an added bonus. 🎅🏻 🎁🎄 Thank you so much, “Ms. Wolf”!

This was a first! We went to the pyramid yesterday to take the kids bowling for my birthday, when we noticed Santa was there. Of course we had to go see him! When he found out why we were in Memphis, he asked if he could pray over us. The workers made Max come over, then Santa took his time and prayed over each of us while the line got longer and longer. Maggie kept looking up at me whispering sweet things and putting her hand on Santa’s hand with mine. 🥹

Thank you, EVERYONE, from the bottom of our hearts for your continued support whether it be financially to help us get a car, flights, and a place to stay when our entire family wants to travel (st Jude doesn’t house or cover all 5 to travel) prayers, check ins, sharing our posts, crying and cheering along with us. All of it.

We understand life goes on for everyone and with Hudson not being in active treatment, we aren’t posting as much and are also trying to “move on” to normalcy. However, our “normal” is always changing and in remission or not, cancer and it’s effects will always be a part of our lives. These scans and being back at St Jude make it all so fresh for us. 💙🎗️

We leave today, and are ready to continue with our holiday season back together at HOME!

Thank you to the Wyandotte RHS Bears Hockey team for collecting stuffed bears! Hud, Emmerson & Maggie passed them out today in between Huds appointments. Go Bears!!!!

Clear scans!! Ready to celebrate at the Zoo in a bit!

Keep our perfect boy in your prayers tomorrow! Early morning labs, and afternoon scans.

Hudson’s eye is healing well, and it seems he’s no longer seeing double! Please continue to pray that this procedure “sticks” and he won’t have to go through it again. 🙌🏻

His next scans are already coming up! We leave this Sunday, the 5th, for St Jude. Thanks to a very generous group of people, our entire family gets to go! Hudson has the hardest time being away from Emmerson, especially, so we are so happy we get to bring him and Maggie with us. 🥹

Hudson’s actual scan day is Tuesday, Nov 6th, so please keep another clear scan for our boy in your prayers! As it gets closer, we naturally get more and more nervous, however, we are so thankful to have our peace and comfort in God knowing that He has our boy in His hands no matter what. 🎗️💙

Here’s a picture of Hud from this weekend! He got to go to a Hallwoeen party and have a sleepover at his Aunt and Uncle’s house, then the next day went to Halloween camp at our wonderful neighbor’s house! He’s very tired today, but had the best time. 🎃

Little update on Hud:

This coming up Sunday, we will be flying down to Memphis for Hud to have his strabismus surgery to correct his eye! It’s a very common and quick procedure, though am absolutely dreading the pokes, sedation, and his aggravation waking up from said sedation, etc. Putting this boy through the simplest amount of pain (or even discipline) is easily one of the hardest things we face now between his emotions and my own. 🤣🥴

We will be posting more updates when we arrive at St Jude, and also two weeks later when we head back down for his scans! Prayers for our boy’s anxiety being back at the hospital are greatly appreciated!

Huds big cousins love him so much! 💙🎗️

St. Jude Children's Research Hospital’s new housing is opening! This is a huge deal, as they’ve been needing to send families to local hotels since they do not have room in housing. This is so much more convenient, cleaner and safer for everyone! 😍👏🏻 We’ve been watching them build it up since Hudson started treatment.

Here’s an update on our friends’ (fellow st Jude family) baby boy. 💙💔 I’m so proud of them and their faith.

Today, is Sophia’s birthday. Please consider donating to their Venmo or their GoFundMe:
https://gofund.me/75b2bda0

Any little bit helps both financially and makes them feel loved during this time. I promise, when we were in Memphis, each donation no matter the size literally felt like a hug knowing we had that support. This is an incredible little family going through something so unimaginably hard. Show them some love in honor of sweet baby Michael, and Sophia on her birthday.

One of our favorite days! So proud of our boy and how far he’s come.

St. Jude Children's Research Hospital

It’s an HONOR to walk in support of this kid tomorrow! Join us! Team

🎗️LINK to join our team is in the comments!🎗️

Walk info:

🎗️This Saturday, September 23, 2023
🎗️Wayne State University
🎗️Kent Commons Area:
(630 Merrick St Detroit, MI, 48202)

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS:

🎗️9:00am: Walk/Run site opens
🎗️10:10am: Kids Dash
🎗️10:20am: Opening ceremony
🎗️10:30am: Walk/Run begins

🎗️WALK/RUN DISTANCE: Approx 2-mile loop

🎗️🎗️There were so many St Jude goodies, info, and activities last year. We had the best time supporting the best hospital! Come support them and be a part of both the awareness to the need of Childhood cancer research, and donating to help provide the medical care these children need. (And so much more!)🎗️🎗️