9/27 - Bennett

I’ll always remember the first brain tumor kid we met. We were at the Ronald McDonald House and a family was unloading groceries in the kitchen like they lived there (it was early in our stay there and we couldn’t yet image being that comfortable there). They looked at Tillery’s head and asked, “Brain tumor?” It was so strange for us until we saw an adorable bald girl with a scar on the back of her head come around the corner. Immediately, we had a connection to them. 

Over the next few months, we shared a house with Bennett and her family. Well, most of that time, Bennett was in-patient across the street so we really shared a house with her baby sister, Juliet and her grandmother, Diana and occasionally saw her parents run through on their way to or from the hospital. Bennett’s tumor was an ETANTR and while the resection surgery removed 99% of her tumor, the chances of surviving with any remaining piece of tumor was 0%. 

Bennett’s family stayed very positive and tried hard to give Bennett as much normalcy as possible. I remember once coming out of my room and encountering Bennett having a temper tantrum alone in the hallway. I looked around wondering how she ended up there and then rounded the corner and saw her mom. I realized that amid all the treatments and hospital stays, she was still a kid who needed to pitch a fit and her mama was letting her do it. That moment always stays with me because it’s those times of realness that remind you they are more than just a patient.

Bennett endured some of the yuckiest chemo treatments I’ve ever heard about. Talking to her family and reading their updates was hard, especially as our daughter was improving. We saw less and less of them as they spent most all of their time at the hospital.

I’ll always remember the day that Bennett’s family moved out of the Ronald McDonald House. I was so heartbroken and I remember thinking I might never see her again. What I had recently heard and seen of her seemed that her time left would be very short. But that wasn’t the case! Bennett lived another 10 months and she really LIVED during that time! It wasn’t a time of hospital beds and tubes and treatments. It was a time of laughing and playing and being a family. I know that time was so hard on her family but I would smile every time I saw a new post or picture and heard a good report. About a month before she passed away, I got the opportunity to see Bennett one last time and swing beside her on the playground. She was smiling and playing just like any other kid, nothing like the sickly child I had seen many months before. I was filled with joy to see her and that’s the Bennett I want to always remember. The girl who was living!

#BlessingsForBennett #tilleryisloved #TILfoundation #alexsmillionmile #GoGold2017

To support childhood cancer research in honor of kids like Bennett, make a donation to our team (TIL Foundation) with Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation. https://www.alexslemonade.org/mypage/1314958