Family encourages donations to St. Jude after daughter is treated

LEXINGTON, Ky. (WTVQ) – A Louisville family went through something no family wants to go through, in 2011 Amanda and Mike noticed their daughter wasn’t feeling well and she kept getting ear infections.

Hayli’s parents say the antibiotics for her ear infections stopped working. Then things took a turn for the worst, Hayli stopped walking.

Her parents took her to a hospital in Louisville where she went through several tests. Hayli was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia, which attacks bone marrow.

Amanda says St. Jude had a protocol for Hayli’s type of cancer and they immediately decided to go there for her treatment. They say they could not have taken her to a better place.

Amanda and Mike say, “They’re just so full of hope, and they’re so positive, and full of love and just do everything they can to make the family and the patient as comfortable as possible. Amanda always said it’s the best and worst place that we could be.”

Hayli was at St. Jude for about seven months, she responded really well to treatment and was able to go back home but a year later Hayli relapsed and the family returned to St. Jude, this time Hayli had to have a bone marrow transplant.

Just like every family at St. Jude, they never received a bill for their child’s treatment. They didn’t have to worry about paying for housing, food, or travel, they were just able to focus on their child.

Hayli says they go back every year to visit the doctors who helped save her life, “I like going back, it’s not like sad for me to go back there, cause they made it such a great time and such a great experience.”

St. Jude runs on donations. Amanda says the more money donated; the more St. Jude can help save the lives of children like Hayli’s.