Our precious Catherine Rose Muir was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia on Thursday, July 27th. She went in, with her identical twin sister Molly, for a routine middle school physical on Tuesday, July 25th. Her physical exam was perfect, her vision was perfect, and she received 3 standard vaccinations. Aside from some bruising that we noticed over the last couple of months, she showed up to her appointment as a vivacious and healthy 11 year old. After a routine finger prick that showed some abnormal values, we were referred to a pediatric hematologist for further testing. It was when we walked her in for that appointment at the VCU Children's Pavilion of Richmond and saws signs for Hematology/Oncology that we started to get the idea of how serious this would be. From there, it just seemed to be a series of getting hopes up and getting them dashed. The hematologist gave us a list of possible diagnoses prior to getting lab results back. "It could be a virus or a recent antibiotic that dropped Catherine's platelet count so low", he said. But lab results pointed to the worst of those options. Catherine was soon admitted to VCU Medical Center on Wednesday, July 26th. We wept, we hugged - the hematologist included. Somehow our legs carried us to Catherine's hospital room. Somehow we got her situated. Somehow this was real. Catherine has been through three very intensive rounds of chemotherapy and recently underwent a Stem Cell Transplant on December 22, 2017. She is now home and recovering, going into the Children’s hospital three times each week for testing, blood work and exams. She has a long round ahead of her, but she is doing very well, her spirits are high and we are beginning to get into the rhythm of All being back under one roof and adjusting into our new reality.