Aila was diagnosed with B-Cell ALL Leukemia in July of 2018 when she was just three years old. In the weeks before her diagnosis, Aila had been fighting several colds and fevers off and on and had coincidently hurt her knee while playing on the trampoline (one of her favorite activities). Out of precaution, Aila's pediatric doctor decided to run blood tests to make sure nothing more serious was going on; several days later, we were called in over the weekend for additional testing and x-rays as her counts were slightly off. 

Two weeks (and several trips to Urgent Care) later, we were still waiting for answers while Aila's persistent illness remained a mystery. After our third trip to Urgent care, reassuring us it was likely a piggyback virus, Aila's fever spiked to 105 degrees. We turned right back around this time to the Mercy ER, and from thereafter bloodwork, she was rushed by ambulance to Blank Children's Hospital in Des Moines, Iowa where we met with the hematologist/oncologist staff. Several days later, we were stunned by the words we were told, “I’m sorry, but It is Leukemia."

Her high-risk treatment plan involved several blood transfusions, multiple sedation for bone marrow biopsies, lumbar punctures, countless pokes, pills, and tears than any three-year-old should ever have to endure. On her third round of Pegaspargase chemotherapy, she went into anaphylactic shock and was hospitalized in the PICU for several days. This changed the course of her original treatment plan and she received the alternative chemotherapy, Erwinia, which required six times as many infusions. Aila finished her 2.5 year treatment and remains cancer free!

She is currently being treated at Blank Children’s Hospital, where she is now seen once a month for blood draws and standard check-ups. She will continue to be seen once a month for the first year and will tapper down after 5 years post-treatment. 

We are so proud of the progress she has made and the obstacles that she has overcome throughout this journey. During her first month of chemotherapy, she lost the ability to walk due to leg neuropathy, and needed leg casts for five weeks, to combat the effects of the chemo and needed six months of leg braces, but through weekly physical therapy, she slowly regained the strength to walk (and jump and dance)! She is also as selfless as she is strong always asking others if they are ill or not feeling well, and even wiping away Mommy’s tears on really hard days, saying, “it will be ok Mommy.”

We were first told about Make-A-Wish while inpatient at Blank Children's Hospital shortly after Aila's diagnosis; our hearts instantly hurt knowing she was granted a wish as we unknowingly thought only terminally ill children received wishes. Hearing from other families, gave us a renewed sense of hope and excitement and gave our family something to look forward to after battling something so life-threatening and damaging, not only Aila but our entire family.

We have been forever changed and transformed by her intense journey but Make-A-Wish lessens that sadness we so often feel by giving Aila and our family the trip of a lifetime, by being able to make up for the lost time.

It didn't take this little princess long to pick her wish and she knew exactly what she wanted! After waiting until it was safe to travel, Aila and her family made the journey to Give Kids the World for her wish to meet the princesses at Walt Disney World Resort. Aila says her favorite memory of her wish was having “ice cream for breakfast at Give Kids the World and swimming with dolphins” at Discovery Cove.

As a make a wish family, we are so thankful for this opportunity; although, we wish this nightmare upon no family, this foundation provides families like ours who have battled the unimaginable, wondering night after night in the hospital if your family will ever be able to do 'normal' activities like your friends and family are doing in that moment like swimming or hanging out on the couch watching a movie, even just being at your own home. So often, families like ours feel so isolated and lonely in this childhood cancer world, that it's hard to express the magnitude of this new life you are navigating.

Aila’s family expressed the hope of giving back to the organization that had helped their family and now they are doing just that! Aila has been recruited as the honorary construction superintendent for the 2022 Frampton Homes Charity House. This is the third home to benefit Make-A-Wish Iowa. Aila will be overseeing the home building process and assisting all the generous subcontractors who donate their time, skills and supply to this project that supports wish children like Aila!

Learn more about the listing at 2725 NW BROOKSIDE DRIVE, GRIMES, IA 50111 – DePhillips Real Estate Group (dephillipsgroup.com)