Claire is a bright, bubbly little girl whose effervescence for life is infectious. You can’t help but smile when you’re in her company. When Claire was a few months shy of three, she and her family moved to the Atlanta area for work. In September of 2016 she celebrated her third birthday, and a month later her family received the devastating news of her cancer diagnosis.

Following a week of complaining about leg pain and not being able to pick toys up off the floor, Claire and her family headed to the pediatrician. The doctor confirmed that she was a bit backed up, and pointed out a faint rash on Claire’s face that her mom had credited to a new brand of wipes. To be thorough, she sent them for lab work and provided some at-home remedies to alleviate Claire’s stomach pains. The following afternoon, when Claire still had not had a bowel movement, the doctor recommended they head to Scottish Rite for an x-ray to rule out a bowel obstruction; the lab results had not yet returned. To the ER the Grassos went, with the promise that the doctor would let the ER know to expect them. The wait in the hospital seemed to take forever, but when the attending doctor ordered Claire receive an IV, things began to change. The rash that had been on Claire’s face was now covering the arm they had placed the IV in. They drew blood samples and told the family to sit tight. Shortly before 7:00 pm on October 4, 2016, the attending doctor returned with the news that there were blasts in Claire’s blood. Claire had cancer. A hematology fellow met with Claire’s family a short while later and confirmed that Claire had leukemia.

The following hours and days passed in a blur as Claire was admitted and transferred to the Aflac Cancer and Blood Disorders floor where she was formally diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL). She underwent surgery to have her port placed and received her first few rounds of chemotherapy. A week later she was discharged and her parents, who had recently discovered they we going to be welcoming a second child, were left to manage and figure out how to navigate this new pediatric cancer journey alone.

In walked the Aflac Cancer team, and Claire and her family found not just doctors, nurses, social workers and case managers, but friends and an extended “family.” Having been so new to Atlanta upon diagnosis, the family’s support system was very small. Aflac’s team walked hand-in-hand with Claire and her family during the 26-month treatment protocol and in December of 2018, two weeks shy of Christmas, Claire completed treatment.

Each month Claire and her family return to the Aflac clinic for check-ups and bloodwork to monitor her for relapse, and to date, Claire remains cancer-free.