RICHMOND, Va. (WWBT) – Imagine your child is so sick that when doctors brought you updates, they couldn’t hold back the tears. That was true for the parents of Piper Philips, who was being treated for a rare form of leukemia, which is often fatal.
But this family’s outlook on life completely changed the day Piper was admitted to St. Jude Children’s Hospital.
Piper Philips, now 9 years old, is blissfully oblivious to the terrible illness that nearly killed her seven years ago. She is perfectly normal and spends her days like most third graders, playing on the trampoline in her backyard, chatting with friends online and playing video games.
But Piper’s mother Lorraine will never be able to erase the memory of those harrowing days when little Piper started showing symptoms that seemingly only she could see.
The toddler slept 18 hours a day. In her waking hours she was constantly fussy, and it clearly hurt the child to turn her head.
Week after week visits to the pediatrician and emergency room were unsuccessful. They would tell her the same thing, over and over…until they didn’t.
“There’s nothing wrong, she’s fine. We’re going to unsubscribe you.’ And my husband and I were packing, getting ready to leave, and the emergency room doctor was famous again and said, ‘She really has leukemia,’ said Lorraine Phillips, Piper’s mother.
Childhood leukemia is one of the most curable cancers out there, but not the type that Piper had. The disease had spread to her spinal fluid. Sometimes it was as if she was paralyzed. There was round after round of chemo at a local hospital, but doctors made it clear that the prognosis was bleak.
“I saw some doctors cry when they talked to us, so I knew it wasn’t right,” Lorraine said.
But behind the scenes, Piper’s father Matt connected with the recording team at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis. The day they took her case, the whole world of the family changed.
“We’ll contact St. Jude, they’ll send a plane to Richmond, pick up my wife and daughter, and fly them straight to St. Jude Children’s Hospital for analysis,” Matt said. “And really dive deep into her situation.”
St. Jude’s doctors stabilized Piper. They ran tests to see if her big brother Nate could be a bone marrow donor, and it turned out he was the perfect match.
After literally a year of life or death decisions, Matt and Lorraine were able to breathe again – their little girl was cancer free. And they know they owe it all to St. Jude.
“They sat down with us, took us by the hand and said, ‘Look, we’re going to do everything we can to make sure your child goes through this and that they will live a healthy, fertile life,'” said Mat.
St. Jude Children’s Hospital will provide Piper with free annual physical examinations for the rest of her life.
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