Hadley’s Story
In late January 2025, Hadley (and the whole family) came down with the flu. For six days, she had a constant fever and was not showing signs of getting better. After visiting her pediatrician, it was recommended that she go to Brenner Children’s Hospital for fluids and additional care to treat the flu.
After receiving fluids, oxygen, and several blood draws the emergency physician expressed his concern that her blood work came back with indications of leukemia due to suppressed levels. She was admitted to the oncology floor of Brenner’s that evening. In the days following her admission, she received her first blood transfusion, antibiotics, and further testing including a bone marrow biopsy to determine if those low blood levels were due to fighting the flu virus (which she was still testing positive for) or leukemia.
On Wednesday, February 12, the bone marrow biopsy results confirmed that Hadley had Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (“ALL”) type b. Nina and Jason (and her favorite pediatrician and friend) met with the oncology team for over two hours to review the plan to attack Hadley’s cancer. That same day, she had a lumbar puncture (spinal tap) to make sure there were no malignant cells found in her spine (none were found), a port-a-cath implanted in her chest (to help lessen blood draws and make it easier for her to receive treatment) and received her first two doses of chemotherapy.
After six days in Brenner Children’s Hospital, she was able to be discharged and come home and is so happy to be back with her brothers! She is receiving chemotherapy treatments at home through oral medications along with twice a week visits at the Brenner’s outpatient hematology/oncology clinic at the hospital. The oncology team has told the Walters to expect treatments to last 2 to 3 years.
The oncology team that met with Hadley and the Walters have said that leukemia is treatable and it is curable. There is a plan in place and each phase will bring new adjustments but they feel confident in her team and are thankful to live in a community with access to this level of care.
The Walters are grateful for the medical team and optimistic for Hadley’s future. This will be a marathon and the Walters will need our support, prayers, and patience as they walk this new normal.
To know Hadley is to love Hadley, and her spunk is coming in handy in these long days. She misses her school, her teachers and her friends, but thankful to have such an army of people who love her. As the weather gets nicer, we hope she can return to the activities she loves and enjoy being outside.
Nina and Jason are incredibly humbled and thankful for the outpouring of help, love, support, and prayers for Hadley and their entire family. She is a social butterfly and loves being around others so all the cards, videos, texts and gifts have been so appreciated and put a big smile on her face.
We will continue to update this page as her journey to recovery continues.
March 12 2025 Update:
28 days! She did it! The first phase of treatment is done! Hadley took her last dose of steroids last night in this phase. Weekly chemo doses and twice-a-day steroids and all the changes including fear and anxiety of taking her medicine, 24/7 hunger and cravings (thank you for your service Chick-fil-A), steroid rages, swelling and sleepless nights. But she navigated all of this like the strong girl she is and we still saw so much of that sweet Hadley smile and laugh.
We are beyond grateful for all the love and support for our girl and family. It has felt like the longest 28 days but our gratitude for everyone is overflowing.
Today is a big day with another bone marrow biopsy and lumbar procedure. Our prayer would be that her treatment so far has been successful and effective and that we can move onto the next phase. If you are reading this and can pause and pray for our girl, we would be so thankful.
We know God’s got this and is working on healing our girl!
With her being so little, I’m not sure she quite understands everything that is going on and why she isn’t back running around with her friends at school. But she sure understands the feeling of being loved. We are so thankful for all the prayers, love and support being a part of our #teamhadleywalters
March 18 2025 Updates
We are celebrating the news that no leukemia cells were detected in Hadley’s recent bone marrow biopsy which is what we prayed for!
Hadley’s body has done a lot of work in 28+ days and this shows us her treatment so far has been effective and successful and we can move to the next phase. There are still several more phases we will have to walk through in the next two years with chemotherapy treatments and inpatient visits but this is a great first step.
We are so thankful for the outpouring of love and support and your continued prayers for our strong girl!
#TeamHadleyWalters