Ivory’s Story

On December 24, 2024, Ivory caught what her siblings came down with a few days prior - cough, cold and fever. On December 26th, Ivory’s fever was over 104 degrees and her mom, Jennifer, was unable to break it so she decided to take her into the ER. There, Ivory had a nose swab done and they were sent home with instructions as to how to help the fever. The following day, Jennifer received a call saying Ivory had influenza A and was assured this is very common and would go away on its own. However, that night Ivory couldn’t sleep and was having a hard time breathing. Jennifer decided to take Ivory back to the ER because her breathing was so strained. Labs, swabs and x-rays were immediately performed. The doctor told Jennifer it was looking like a pneumonia but what was most disturbing was that Ivory’s blood counts were way too low and she needed to be admitted right away. When they got to their room, a doctor came in and told Jennifer that if Ivory did not get a blood transfusion in the next hour she would die. Jennifer recalls sobbing as Ivory was put on oxygen and then an oxygen mask because they were unable to get her heart rate down. All night the nurses worked to stabilize Ivory. The following day, the doctor decided to send her blood draw to the cancer lab because of how low her counts were. When the results came back, Ivory was diagnosed with Leukemia. Jennifer could hardly believe it as just two days prior they were sent home with a flu diagnosis. She was immediately intubated because she could not breathe on her own and was in immense pain. She remained that way for eight days.

During those eight days of intubation, Ivory started chemotherapy and other treatments. Coming off the intubation was horrible and Ivory had many withdrawal symptoms from the sedation which had to be managed (sleeplessness, shaking, throwing up, diarrhea, etc). On January 9th, Ivory was moved from the ICU to the oncology floor and the following day she had a procedure to get a PICC line in her arm. During the procedure, Jennifer (who was now nine months pregnant!) began having contractions. She waited to tell anyone because she didn’t want to leave Ivory’s side. Late that night she was taken to the OB triage and admitted where she had a precious baby boy the following morning. After 24 hours, Jennifer was allowed to go back to Ivory’s side where she and her newborn baby remained. Ivory remained in the hospital for two months. During that time she lost her ability to talk and walk. When she was finally discharged they were sent home with a walker. Slowly but surely she began walking and talking again. In May she even began dancing again which is something she loves to do!

Ivory’s family still has a long road ahead of them but they are choosing to stay strong and keep fighting. They hope their story encourages everyone to never give up, no matter what. Maybe you are facing something difficult in your life that feels impossible to overcome - may Ivory’s shirt be the inspiration you need to keep dancing through it!