On May 18th, 2017 a tiny little bundle of perfection was placed in our arms and immediately made the world a brighter place. We were faced with a parents worst nightmare when our beautiful 7 month old little girl was diagnosed with infant acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL).
Over the next 12 months, Ariya spent over 100 days inpatient at our local hospital enduring harsh and outdated chemotherapy. Ariya was not able to grow up as a "normal" child and as parents we witnessed our daughter accomplish milestones all while being confined to an IV pole and in a 300 square foot hospital room.
When we thought our nightmare couldn't get any worse, we were sadly mistaken. A year into treatment, we learned that Ariya’s leukemia had returned and this time it was stronger than ever. As parents we knew we would go to the end of the world for her and that is exactly what we did every time we got the news “this treatment isn’t working.”
Over the next 8 months we traveled to John Hopkin’s All Children’s Hospital in St. Petersburg, Florida followed by Dallas Children’s Hospital in Dallas, Texas and then to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee. Unfortunately, due to having a compromised immune system for nearly 8 months, Ariya was diagnosed with a pulmonary fungal infection as well as parainfluenza. On August 2nd, 2019 after battling cancer for 20 months out of her 27 months of life, Ariya gained her beautiful wings and went to be with Jesus.
When we named our daughter, we did not know that her name had a powerful meaning… “God’s Lion.” During Ariya's journey, she showed strength, love, hope and perseverance all while having a big smile on her face. Ariya was a silly and sassy little girl yet very tender hearted and sweet. She loved watching The Little Mermaid, playing with bubbles, and putting stickers on every surface she possibly could. Ariya would run to mommy and daddy from one side of the hospital room to another in order to give them each a big hug. It was a nightly routine for her to wake up and whisper " Psssst... Daddy! Baba!" in order to wake up her daddy for a bottle of milk. As parents, our hearts are shattered and will be forever broken.
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