Hi, My name is Brody. In December of 2011, I was just a little over two years old and I was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. Who knew that a child could get cancer, but unfortunately it is a reality for so many children! I was so young when I was diagnosed that I thought going to the hospital, having a port, and getting chemotherapy was what every child did. Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh, created such a great environment for me and my family. My brother Cayden was only 18 months old at the time of me being diagnosed. He would come and visit me everyday when I was in the hospital. We would play in the playroom together for hours until he had to go home. I was in the hospital a lot! I had to get 3 bone marrow biopsies, the initial biopsy was to confirm that I did in fact have cancer. I had to get 29 spinal taps. My Dr. would take spinal fluid out to test it for cancer, and then put chemotherapy directly into my spine. At the beginning of treatment, I was in the hospital every week to get chemotherapy and to get my blood counts checked. There were many times, my mom and dad had to take me to the Emergency Room because I would get a fever and I would have to be checked for infections. Many of those times, I would have to stay in the hospital for a few days because my counts were so low. There were times that I would go in to clinic for my appointment and leave with my port accessed. A home nurse would then visit me everyday to give me chemotherapy and to get blood counts checked. There is one chemotherapy that required me to be admitted to the hospital every other week for a month. It was administered over a 24hr period. There was another chemo that required an EpiPen to be right next to me while getting this specific chemo. The nurses had to check on me all the time to make sure everything was going ok, I think my mom and dad were more nervous but they never would show it! While I was undergoing treatment I had to get a lot of blood and Platelet Transfusions. Sometimes my blood counts were so low that I needed these transfusions to boost them back up to where they needed to be. If my white blood count was low, I had to be very careful not to get sick. When I first started getting my port accessed, I would cry and scream. After a while, I got so used to it that it didn't really bother me. My mom and dad never told me I had cancer until after I was finished with my treatment and in remission. They said they didn't want to scare me or make me sad, so to me, living with cancer was a normal way of life for me. I am sharing all of these things that happened not to scare anymore or make anyone sad, I am sharing this to bring awareness to childhood cancer and the harsh reality of this horrible disease! The more support we can get, the better our chances are of curing childhood cancer! Thank you for reading my story and helping so many other children!