Six years ago, in a home so unsuspecting, the lives of five family members would be changed... forever. December 15th, the Foley babies, after their Christmas Concert from church, posed patiently as their mother held her camera. Daddy, Emmett, was in Texas and mom, Hope, thought she would surprise him with some pictures of his babies in front of their tree. He had been gone for about a week and would be gone for a little longer, to be home just in time for Christmas. Ivee, the youngest of the children, only 7 months old, had not been acting so happy lately, crying often but wanting to be her happy, cheerful self. On this night, she was patient, but quickly decided she wanted nothing to do with being happy in the pictures for daddy. As the night progressed into the next day, Brittney, the oldest child, became sick. She continued to deal with vomiting and nausea all through that Sunday, December 17th, which happened to be Ethan's 7th birthday. Mom was very tired, but decided that she would take Brittney to the doctor Monday while sending Ethan off to school.
Hope loaded her daughters into the van that Monday afternoon, and set off to the doctors office, hoping that Brittney could find relief from her stomach pains and sickness. Being that it was only 7 days until Christmas day, the mother decided to stop at a store just down the street from the doctors office to pick up a couple of items. Leaving Brittney to rest in the van for a few minutes, Hope took Ivee stilled strapped into her infant seat inside the store, placing Ivee on the grocery cart securely, as so many parents do. Finding the few stocking stuffers that she needed, Hope left the store. As she exited the doors, she reached to throw something in the garbage can at the end of the cart. As the she turned around to look at her baby, she saw the moment that the car-seat hit the concrete ground with a loud bang, face down....the way the car-seat fell made no logical sense. Hope, completely overcome with grief and fear, pulled the car-seat over to see that Ivee was awake but dazed and a large knot on her forehead. She rushed her children to the doctors office down the street, the same place she was taking Brittney for relief that day. The doctor there said Ivee was responsive, but since she was wanting to sleep, she might possibly have a concussion, a CT scan would confirm this. So, from there, Hope rushed Ivee to the local hospital 30 minutes away, the entire time Brittney telling her mother that it was going to be okay.
With Hope's husband being hours away, Hope called a friend, who immediately began finding people to come to her rescue to get Brittney and be by her side, and then she called her husband. Emmett, after weighing what had happened, told his boss that he needed to leave Texas and come home immediately...his family, his daughter, his wife needed him.
As Hope stood by Ivee's side, the nurse positioned her body and her head on the CT table, no need to strap her down, for Ivee was sleeping away. Hope, continually praying that the fall, which was now permanently etched, no scarred onto her brain, would not have hurt her baby...that it was just a concussion. The nurse exited the room to prepare the machine for the scan. As Hope stood there looking at Ivee's little body a peace and calm came over her. Reaching down to take Ivee's hand, Hope heard a still, small voice speak straight to her heart..."It is okay. I am with you. Ivee will not be harmed from this fall...but there is something that I need for the doctors to see." It was then and there, Hope knew. The weeks of crying with no relief, the head tilting, the fact that her daughter didn't seem to be like her other kids at the same age...something was wrong with her little girl. The nurse asked her to step inside the room with her while the scan took place. Hope stood there looking through the window as the CT machine came to life, and then looking down at the computer screen, Hope saw what her heart already knew...a large white spot where gray should be appeared as the scan went from the top of Ivee's head to her neck and spine.
Picking up her baby and leaving the room, Hope held Ivee close, knowing that life had just changed, but not knowing just what that would mean. The doctors told her that an MRI would be needed in hopes of getting a clear answer, but all she could think is, “How am I going to tell Emmett? What do I say? What does all this mean?” Even after the MRI, sitting in the emergency room surrounded by friends, Hope still felt distant, stunned and alone, desperately wishing that her husband could teleport straight into the room from Texas, but knowing she would have to wait for him to drive the long hours home.
The hard separation started when Hope had to let her baby go with the pediatric nurses in the ambulance for a transfer to the local children’s hospital, where she would be admitted to the PICU. Hope's friends drove her the 40 minutes from one hospital to the other, the entire time, Hope's heart hurting and searching, and only finding some relief when she was joined again with her baby in her new room in the ICU unit of the children's hospital.
After a long day of visitors in and out, Emmett stepped out of the elevator late that night into the 5th floor waiting area. After their long embrace, Hope lead Emmett to their daughter's small hospital room, to their beautiful baby girl hooked up to monitors and machines, the only signs of a fall being a nice bruise over her right eyebrow. She was very happy to see her father, and he her, but now looking into her little chubby face brought different feelings than joy. It brought with it a fear and despair. The doctors were still unsure what the spot on Ivee's MRI meant. It didn't show signs of any one particular diagnosis. The neurosurgeon wouldn't know what he was dealing with until he got inside that beautiful little head. Emmett, Hope and family enjoyed her company that Tuesday and said their prayers over her. Wednesday, December 20th, lead the family to the halls of the surgery ward on the bottom floor. The doctor reassured them that he would take care with there child. They kissed their baby good-bye and sat in the waiting room. This waiting room, shared by the surgery department and the maternity ward, was full of people, all with very different emotions. Many were there waiting on the joyous news of babies being born. Celebrating the great day when a new life would come into the world. Emmett, Hope and family sat there praying for news of something simple, that the doctor would come in saying all was well, she did fine and she would be the same child they knew before. Five hours later, as the doctor took the parents into a room to themselves, they saw it on the doctors face. Holding hands their hearts broke when they heard the words...cancer.
That was it. That moment. The moment that car-seat hit the ground outside a store in Robertsdale, AL on Monday, December 18th...that was the moment. The moment that their lives, their ideas of how precious life truly was changed forever. It only takes a moment for your world to come tumbling down, spiraling to a place where no matter what you do, you have no control over this. However, it is also the moment that life and faith and family took on new meaning. The moment became their...day, our day of learning to trust and pray and plead and grow and learn.
It became G.I.F.T day!
The day that we, the Foleys learned that God is the healer, sustainer, prince of peace, savior, delieverer.
He is in control and he is the faithful one when our faith is wavering. Not that we didn't know he was all these things before, for I had been taught this in church my entire life...
...but now we believed it! Now we had to live it! Now we counted on it!
God
Is
Faithful and
True!
He is a Gift. He came as a Gift. He died as a Gift! And he rose as a Gift!
Happy G.I.F.T day to you all and may Jesus be the Gift that you all come to know and receive!
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Ivee after her first surgery 12/20/2006
A month after surgery, just beginning chemo.
Daddy and Ivee in the hospital during chemo treatments 3/2007
Ivee's 1st birthday in the hospital 5/8/2007
Ivee at St. Jude with her daddy while he visited us there while she underwent radiation to the brain 7/2007
Living at home again and her hair growing in. Loving her sister! 9/2006
Ivee and Brittney's hair growing back. Brittney lost her hair during Ivee's treatments as well. Cancer affects the whole family!
Ivee on her first anniversary of G.I.F.T. day 2007!!!!
Ivee in 2008! Man, at the hair! Loving Grandpa, watching baseball, and visiting the Memphis Zoo.
Ivee has her 9th surgery. This time to remove a cyst and scar tissue that formed in her brain. 09/11/2008
After being released from Memphis from scar tissue surgery, Ivee develops Meningitis, and has to have two more surgeries to have a shunt placed in her head. 09/21/2008-10/2/2008
Ivee goes ALL of 2009 without on single surgery or issue needing hospitalization!
Ivee has a rare shunt line infection and has to have her shunt replaced. So use to hospitals, she and I always found ways to entertain ourselves and others. 2/2010
And we find out Ivee is very allergic to one of her antibiotics...after mommy has to get ugly with the doctors!
We find out that Ivee has hip displasia...totally NOT related to the cancer and brain surgeries. She undergoes hip surgery, her 14th surgery over all, and stays in a full body cast for 6 weeks. 9/23/2010
MRI reveals Ivee's cancer has returned 01/24/2011
Ivee undergoes her 15th surgery to remove cancer from her brain again 02/18/2011
A week after brain surgery.
