Our Pal - Kennedy L

Kennedy now has two years of chemotherapy to get through. She is currently in remission, which means they cannot find the disease under a microscope or it’s a very tiny amount. However that doesn’t mean it isn’t there which is why the treatment is for two years. She is at low risk of relapsing, so fingers crossed she just carries on fighting like she has been.

Update 8th January 2018

Kennedy is still doing clinically well. Although I believe everything is finally taking its toll on her now. The last few months she has been constantly poorly with colds, coughs, a chest infection and currently an ear infection.

She looks washed out and run down a lot of the time now but still tries to act full of beans. She does get tired easily too. She is still loving school and is doing really well.

Her calf muscles are very tight but still not quite tight enough for casts yet but they are monitoring her.

She had her last ‘push’ chemo (vincristine) on 29th December. Which was also her last round of the dreaded steroids. We are now on the home run to finishing treatment. She has her last LP and IT methotrexate on the 24th January and then finishes her oral chemo on 26th January. It will be a very exciting but very very scary time. Then its 6 weeks of antibiotics and for her port to be taken out.

Thank you all for the amazing post they have all recieved. There are never enough words to say how truly grateful we are and how much it really has helped. We look forward to our last couple of months as pals xx

Update 16th October 2017

Hi all. Sorry it has been so so long since we updated. A lot has gone on but I will try and keep the update as short and sweet as possible.

Firstly a big thank you to everyone who sends post. We have been pals for over a year now and still every single day the kids ask if I have checked the letter box. That just shows how much they love and appreciate their post and how much it helps them. So THANK YOU again from the bottom of our hearts.

So basically Kennedy is currently doing really really well. She is in full time school now and loves it. She can get quite tired sometimes and just needs a day to rest ect.

She is coping a lot better with hospital and nurse visits and having procedures such as bloods done etc. No more pinning down and she hardly cries.

She is tolerating her chemo really well. Although since upping her methotrexate she seems to be having new sides effects of it. She has it on a friday evening. Then saturday and sunday she seems to have really bad angry tantrums that she can’t control. She can’t snap out of it and there is nothing we can do to help her. The doctors haven’t heard of the methotrexate doing this before but didn’t seem too worried. She seems to be suffering nausea quite often too but we have medication to help that so it isn’t too bad.

Over the last few months she has had a couple of hospital stays. One was really scary where she had a very nasty virus and needed oxygen. She has coped brilliantly though and as soon as she was back on her feet she was to her usual happy, cheeky self.

Finally we would like to say a HUGE THANK YOU to Post Pals, the volunteers, Fearne Cotton and to all that donated in order for us to go to Peppa Pig World. We had such an amazing time and there are no words to express how grateful we are. The smiles the kids had on their faces the whole time meant so much!

We have so much love for you all xx

Update 4th January 2017

Hi everyone. So it’s been a while since we have updated … so sorry!
We firstly again would like to say a huge thank you to everyone that sends post! It really does cheer us all up.

So, Kennedy has been doing really well. She started nursery in September. It was hard at first and I had to keep leaving her screaming and crying (I did too when i got out the gates, lol) but now she loves it there. She has had to have quite a bit of time off, sadly, due to being poorly through November and December. She kept getting coughs and colds and then at the beginning or December was admitted to the local hospital for 4 nights with tonsillitis and an ear infection. Since then she has been fine (touch wood).

She still struggles with having her port accessed. We thought we had it slightly under control but then she takes 10 steps back 🙁 We have come to the conclusion that it will more than likely be like this until the end of treatment and we just need to deal with it. The good thing is that once it is finished she settles very quickly and is happy to carry on playing etc which means she isn’t too traumatised.

She had a fantastic Christmas and thoroughly enjoyed herself. She did get very tired after, although that didn’t stop her playing with all her new toys.
She even managed to eat some of her Nanny’s Christmas dinner (she still pretty much lives on cold food like sandwiches and cereal).
Thank you to all that sent Christmas cards, parcels, reindeer letters, Mrs claus and Santa letters and Elf parcels. They got so many and we are so, so, so grateful. They loved opening every single one.

She had her chemo upped a little in October as her bloods were staying on the high side. They are still remaining a little on the higher side (not too much) but probably enough to up them again.

She has recently been complaining about pain in her legs and arms. So I’m just keeping an eye on her.

Other than that she is a tough little cookie and continues to smile, laugh and give thumbs up 🙂

Happy new year to you all. We hope it is a happier and healthier year for you all.

Update 24th July 2016

First of all we would like to say a massive thank you to every single one of you who have sent Kennedy and her siblings post. It really has helped them and they look forward to and appreciate every single piece

Kennedy had a bit of a rough time during the intense part of treatment. This included staying in hospital for a week with a horrible viral throat infection and mucotisis.

Since finishing the intense stage she has been doing really well. We have had some trouble with her port that got resolved but other than that things are looking good.

She is looking and feeling great and has been full of energy. However if we go out for the day to a park etc she does get tired easy and can last for a few days if she does to much.

Took her about a week to recover from the post pals party (which was amazing!! Thank you so much)

She still struggles with the stairs but doesn’t let it stop her and she keeps going.

She still struggles a bit with being accessed but is getting a lot better now. She doesn’t kick or hit out anymore. She just lays there and cries. Hopefully this will get better over time too.

Kennedy can not wait to see the film Finding Dory!